The Terra Games
by ClockworkCrusader
Summary: Cienna gets into the Terra Games; a tournament based off of The Hunger Games to end a (land-ownership) feud before it becomes a World War. However, she has more to juggle than just the Arena; a best friend who's in-love with her, a guy who looks familiar, a game-maker with problems for power, and so much more. (No swearing here; T only because a bit of blood 'cause it's the games)
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES! I just like to write fan-fics! Oh, if you can, review! XD**

* * *

I had always known nightmares as the only danger of sleep. This time it was so terrifying that I wake up screaming, falling off my own bed.

Since no one came rushing in, I guess my screams aren't as loud as I thought thy were.

Too scared to get back to sleep, I turn on my lamp and start to read.

My concentration is struck.

I can't even finish the first sentence and it was one of my favourite book, _The Hunger Games_. I should really stop read books like this before falling asleep...

If I had to pick my favourite character in the series it would be Katniss Everdeen. Most of my friends even tell me I have the same features as her; with my dark hair, olive coloured skin, except for the grey eyes, I have brown. They also say my personality is spot on, having stage fright, stubborn, bold at times, independent, and we are very protective of our families.

My world is just like the world of _Panem_; it is _not_ a utopia. True, my life is much more better than the lives in _Panem_, but the _Capitol_ here is our 'government.' Basically, there is one group ruling over us; the Lowell family. They make us do their work, treating us as their servants.

* * *

In my nightmare, I couldn't save my family, friends, no one. I was in the Hunger Games but it seemed different.

There were still tributes, but there appeared to be more than twenty-four, and there where different stages instead of one arena.

An earthquake separated my sisters, friends, and I. When it was over I was alone, except for a pack of wolves. Their leader had purple eyes. At first I thought they were muttations although it didn't feel right.

The other side had everyone else sinking into quick sand. I was surrounded when I saw my closest friends Aden and Penelope get swallowed by the sand.

That was when I woke up.

* * *

Dawn arrives, but the sun doesn't show up that brightly as usual.

I am so tired that I stumble to get out of bed.

Although, I still get out of my room and go to the bathroom. I also change into a purple blouse, blue jeans, a black leather jacket, my special necklace with a miniature dove, and runners

Taking my archery set with me, I leave home to practice my shooting.

* * *

Stepping outside, I gain more consciousness after breathing the mountain air. The first thing I do is rush up and down a hill and dart my way to my family's secret terrain.

If I run, it takes around an hour to get to it.

This landscape has a river connecting to the ocean almost surround the pine trees and create the shape of a crescent moon, which my mother and father named the "Cure Cove."

When I was little I use to think it sounded like another name for Cupid, but it took a while until they could explain it, but then again I was six.

They named it that because the whole land held herbs, with the soothing sound of the river. There's also the crashing of the waves from the ocean. This place is known in our family to heal anything from annoyance, illness, wounds, to even heart break.

This place is also where I learned some songs and lullabies as well as how to treat wounds and sicknesses.

I started to shoot the targets my father made for me. I also grabbed the herbs and berries my mother taught me that were not poisonous. By the way the sun was fixed in the sky, I assume it was noon.

I head toward home.

* * *

When I get inside, I'm exhausted and starving.

My sisters Liz and Avery both are waiting inside looking content yet worried, probably waiting for me to return.

We are all one month apart in age, meaning Liz is oldest, Avery is next, and then comes me. We all have the same brown eyes, olive coloured skin, and dark hair. Even with those characteristics, we look nothing alike.

Liz is wearing a pink summer dress with flats. Meanwhile, Avery is wearing a blue scarf, dark blue shorts, and a white top with black boots.

We do a lot of things together. When they work in their café, I take part as a waitress once in a while.

I also only visit their school sometimes because ours parents wants me to stay home (For certain reasons). So when Liz or Avery learn something new, they would teach me later after school. Every now and then they would grab me a few books to read; which was okay with me.

"What did you do all morning?" questions Liz.

"I went to Cure Cove." I answer, dropping the plants on the counter. "What about you two?"

They move on without answering my question.

"Happy Birthday Cienna, now you're sixteen!" they sing in an odd tune.

_It's June 30th already?_

The best thing I could think of is thank them.

In almost seconds, Avery takes out a tray with three coconuts with coconut ice cream in it. I really love coconut. We all move to the living room, sit on the couch with our treat, and turn on the television.

The first thing that shows up is the news. Liz is staring intensely at the screen, while Avery is looking down, very worried.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

The instant I realize what was just been said and lay my eyes at the screen.

There is a conflict broadcasted on my birthday. It is taking place between every single continent (seven continents), also meaning there'll be a possible war.

An official takes the screen.

His name is Kain Lowell, a seventeen year old guy who I dislike. A few days ago when my sisters and I were rushing to school, I bumped into him by Liz's and Avery's café. I did apologize, but he just cursed and called me a peasant. So I kicked him and dashed off.

I start laughing the moment he walks to the podium.

He looks pretty normal with his silk suit, tie, brown hair, except what scared me was his purple eyes.

What made me crack up was the egg yolks, icing, and flour that was covering half of him. Laughing at this is pretty rude, but he was just too silly to look at.

I glance over. Avery even gave a smile, while Liz clasps her hand on my mouth to stop me from laughing.

_How could I stop?_ _He was pink and baby blue all over one side._

I try to act serious but that failed after he turned around to pick up some files. He has a frosting bunny on the back of his suit. His expression to the chuckling around him was angry, more like furious.

I wondered who did that to him. Then I recognized the icing patterns.

I look at my sisters. "You two did this all morning?"

Liz nods.

* * *

She explains to me he came in the café a few weeks back. Kain came to the café ever since. Apparently this morning, he sat down and asked for "Something sweet." Liz left to the kitchen.

He slid to the other side of Avery.

She was walking to the next table to collect the tips and he started to say, "Something sweet like you."

I start to gag at the sound of him trying to make a move on Avery.

What I would have done was step on his foot and chuck a pie at his face; but of course, Avery just walked off.

My sisters and I dislike people who try pick-up lines on us. We also don't want to fall in love, so boys are always just friends in our view.

So anyway, Kain kept bugging Avery, which ended disastrous for him...Liz and Avery are _too_ good.

* * *

"So you are telling me that all happened because of someone hitting on you?" I ask Avery.

I didn't need an answer. "You go, sis!" I say, still laughing at the sight of Kain on the screen.

Avery leaves the room probably to avoid looking at that her master piece.

So Liz and I watch Kain and listen to his speech which almost took forever. Liz leaves the room to check on Avery.

I am about to leave too, until something he said made me stay.

"We cannot lose so many people in this war. Instead we will hold a tournament just as the this book and its series has." I see him holding up _The Hunger Games_.

"Wow, that book is popular," I realize that was stupid of me to say.

Kain continues. "There are some rule adjustments. Each continent will have six tributes in the ages between _sixteen_ and eighteen, three males and _three _females. We all will fight for land as the prize. Six tributes can win; from the same continent or not. Keep in mind, even if you are in the same continent, you are _allowed_ to kill each other."

I feel a shiver go through my spine.

Kain's face is still at the screen when a knife is thrown to his digitized nose.

The television blinks twice before shutting down. I face the way it came from. Avery stands there in silence.

"Nice shot. But next time, if you want me impressed, go for the eye." I say somewhat surprised.

She suppresses a smile.

My sisters join me as I tell them about the Games and their rules since they didn't want to read the book. They both seem concerned.

"What?" I ask, curiously.

I immediately regret asking.

Avery starts, "Cienna," she says. "Kain put emphasis on those words because—"

And Liz finishes, "He's adding us to _his _games."


	2. Chapter 2

I can't speak.

All I could think was: _This is my nightmare come to life._

What could I do? I needed to think.

Before I knew it, I ran out the door and didn't desist. Liz calls out something but I can't hear her.

The sky starts to drizzle, so to keep the rain out I close my eyes and keep going.

At one point, I lay against the tree trunk closest to me and pass out.

* * *

"You think she would wake up if I kiss her?" says someone.

"Stop joking around!" the other says, sounding upset.

When my eyes open, I see two figures with their heads over me. I scream and one of them tries to calm me down. The first thing I do is bite that person's hand.

"Ow! Hey, it's alright we won't hurt you," says the one I bit.

"Aden?" I ask. Getting up was easy; focusing my sight took some time.

He is sixteen, has red cropped hair, brown eyes, rosy skin with freckles, wearing a jacket, an orange t-shirt, blue jeans, and runners.

"I'm sorry I bit you." I say.

"Good, she's okay." says the other person.

"Is that you Penelope?" I question.

Aden answers with a grin, "Of course, you dummy! Who else could we be?"

"Come on we'll take you home." Penelope tells me quietly. She's Aden's little sister. She is our age, has dark shoulder-length hair, also having brown eyes, rosy skin, but she is wearing a raincoat and boots.

* * *

The second we get inside my home, Liz and Avery runs up to us and gives me a bear hug so tight I can't breathe.

"I think you two are crushing our ribs, lungs, and other vital organs." I say quickly.

They let go and Liz helps me to the couch. Avery takes out her tray to get everyone something to drink. Aden and Penelope then explains how they were on their way here to celebrate my birthday and came across me passed out.

"What happened?" asked Penelope.

"She dashed off after hearing the news." says Liz.

"The news isn't that _boring_, is it?" Aden asks me, with his teasing smile.

Liz comes in carrying water and hot chocolate.

I desperately grab a cup of water and drink it down so long I have to gasp for air. It feels great to drink some cool water after all I've been through this morning.

Since I had the most knowledge of the tournament Kain was holding, I explained to Aden and Penelope what was going to happen.

"Running away won't work," Liz says. "That's only going to bring torture to North America and Kain will win this fight."

"That is _not_ an option." Avery says.

"I've got an idea!" says Aden eagerly. "What about I volunteer as a boy tribute? We all trust each other. That way we all can protect each other and we might be the last four to survive."

"What if you don't? What about me?" asks Penelope.

"I don't want to risk you dying," Aden says putting down his hot chocolate. "Plus I forbid you to step forward."

Avery tells Penelope in a soothing voice, "Thank you," she says. "But this is our battle and I don't think Kain would let anyone volunteer for us."

"Okay," says Aden's sister. "But be careful."

"We will survive." promises Liz. "Don't worry."

The conversation stopped at that.

It was already dark so our friends stayed overnight. We gave them each their own room. Aden got the guest room, I let Penelope stay in my room, while I slept on living room couch.

I didn't sleep because I was thinking of strategies to use in the tournament. I couldn't use any from _The Hunger Games _since Kain has probably read the books.

Eventually, I figured to use another book for something useful. I found _Percy Jackson and the Olympians,_ a series that also uses battle and survival techniques to live through almost impossible odds.

Plus, I think some of it is funny. Unfortunately, animals don't turn to golden dust after a strike of a weapon. I am sure our government doesn't have the technology to create _muttations_ like in _The Hunger Games._

On the other hand, Kain could train or manipulate some wolves, lions, bears, or something that can threaten our lives.

My eyelids started to grow heavy and I doze off. My sleep is peaceful. It was dreamless.

* * *

I am awoken by the aroma of freshly baked apple pie. My favourite! I went to the kitchen and saw my sisters baking with Penelope.

Those three always seemed to have a cooking/baking talent. I could only manage the basic recipes.

Liz does extremely great with bo-staffs, rock climbing, and knot-tying.

Avery's best techniques are: playing with knives, slingshots, and swimming.

My special skills are healing, camouflage and archery.

One skill my sisters and I have in common is singing, but I doubt that would help in the tournament.

Penelope asks me to wake Aden so I walk down the hallway and hear a loud sound. When I come in, he is snoring. I start to laugh. He's so loud. This isn't going to help in the games.

I try to shake him awake, even slap him but he just turned around.

I try what Katniss does to Haymitch in _The Hunger Games_. I always wanted to do this. I throw a bucket of cold water over him.

What he did next was groan then started to snore again. I laughed again. _How am I going to wake him up in the games?_

I walk down to Penelope and told her what I did. She stormed into the guest room. My sisters and I hear a thump and in around seconds he is red, wet, and right in the kitchen._ I wonder what she did…_

I pull her into my room and I ask her, "How did you get him to wake up?"

"It's a secret." she says quietly. "I said I would tell everyone I knew if he didn't get up. So his eyes flew open. Then he fell to the floor."

"Please tell me," I say. "It could help us in the games."

"Can't your sisters tell you." she begged. "It's his weakness."

"What is it?" I ask. "I won't use it against him, unless it's about me. I want to know, please!"

She walks to the door. I swiftly take out my key, lock the door, and hide the key in my right hand.

"Open the door." she is on her knees now.

"I'm sorry, but if it is about me," I say calmly. "Tell me, please."

She's pleading, I can't take it any longer. I fall on my knees, apologizing.

She seems concerned. I give her the key to leave, but she shakes her head.

"It's about time you knew." she whispers.

"You don't need to." I whisper back.

"But it is about you," she looks around cautiously and takes the key. She starts to unlock the door. "The secret is: Aden likes you as more than a friend." She is now waiting for my reaction.

"Of course, you both are like family to me too." I say cheerfully.

"Oh dear," she says. "You don't understand."

"What?" I ask. I think back. Every time I ask, I _always_ get hit with something.

Before she leaves the room she says _"_His weakness is _you."_


	3. Chapter 3

Penelope leaves quietly as usual.

_This can't be happening._

I can't look at him the same any more. If I knew this secret could ruin my friendship with him, I wouldn't have asked to know. Would I?

_Wow, my mom was not kidding when she said to me "Curiosity killed the cat." Now I'm the cat and I-just-died._

I quickly get up and head toward the kitchen.

There I see four people sitting at the table, waiting for me to return.

I sit but don't eat anything. Is this what sixteen year-olds go through? Now I want to take back my birthday.

They all look really worried now. After a while, Aden tries to make me talk.

"What took you so long?" Aden says.

I look at Penelope wondering if she told him I knew. She shakes her head.

I say nothing. Knowing what he kept from me, how could I lie about that?

Before anyone else can speak, I leave.

I walk in the direction of the living room and flip channels on our new television.

There are cartoons, advertisements, reality TV shows, and I stopped at the news.

There is an announcement of our continent's 'reaping' taking place at the president's home but we could watch it on the screen if we cannot make it there. It starts today.

_Great news_, I think as I roll my eyes. I decided to focus on these games.

"You guys the 'reaping' is about to start." I shout out to my sisters, Penelope and Aden.

I hear them all rush into the room, with their breakfast. Avery gives me mine.

We have our continent called last, most likely for Kain's amusement.

Kain steps up to draw names. "Ladies first." he says mimicking Effie Trinket of _The Hunger Games._ We all ignore the tributes that were drawn before us.

"Liz Sanders," he shouts in the microphone. "Avery Sanders. Oh, and what a surprise! Cienna Sanders! We have sisters entering the tournament."

His acting is really sad. I almost laughed at that, but I remembered he is sending us to our deaths.

I start to make a fist. Evil, self-absorbed, no good, jerk! I see my sisters are doing the same thing.

Aden takes an angry face. "I can't volunteer."

"Why?" Penelope asks.

"I'm nowhere near him, I can't volunteer." he says.

That's good, one weight off my shoulders. I can't let him come with me after what I know. I drink some water as well as watching Kain pick names for the boys.

"Aden Atlas." he says.

I spit take. We drop everything.

"Well…now I don't need to call him, complain, then take someone else's place." says Aden.

After Kain finished calling out names, he said, "We will gather tributes starting now. North America's will be taken last tomorrow, so say all your good-byes."

Awesome, now I have to hold up more. I can still hear Kain snickering as the program ends.

Penelope starts to cry, so Avery asks if we can take some time to visit Cure Cove. We all agree to that. I also make sure Aden and Penelope give their word not to tell anyone about it. I don't want anything else taken away.

I take my archery set with me. We all keep an acceptable pace, although Aden carries his little sister half way there.

When we arrive, Liz and Avery take Penelope to the shore and let her relax to the sound of waves.

We give Aden some of the basics. I teach him what plants are edible and what are poisonous.

Avery takes over and works with his knife throwing. Liz takes over after Avery to teach some self-defense moves that may be needed.

He's a natural with throwing knives. I take a few blueberries and join Penelope. She eats some with me.

"If you ever need to come here, go ahead." I offer.

"Thank you." she says. "I never knew this and always wanted to ask, but what happened to your parents?"

I didn't want to answer. Penelope must have noticed. "I'm sorry," she says.

"No, you've told me something I shouldn't have even asked." I say. "My parents disappeared four years ago. They didn't tell me why. All I remember is what my parents told me. He pinched my cheeks and said, _'I'll see you later, squirt.'_ and she said,_ 'To keep safe from any harm, hide.'_ She gave me this necklace to remember." I show her it. "They both gave my sisters and me a hug and left…"

I sit side by side with her. We start to sing. Singing together usually makes us feel better.

Her voice is soft and beautiful. Mine is strong, yet gentle.

We are at least loud enough to hear over crashing waves and across the whole terrain. The melodies and bridges we sing are best. We don't care who hears us right now. It might be our last chance to ever sing together.

The other times we would care is due to stage fright, even to our own families. We can only sing to each other or by ourselves. Liz, Avery, and Aden even stopped to listen.

* * *

When we stopped, everyone chooses to go home; to get ready for tomorrow. I give Penelope and Aden each a hug before saying good night. He turns red and I glanced over at his sister, she was smiling.

We started to laugh and he asked why.

"It's okay big brother, we can go home now." she says as they leave.

I fall asleep the minute I went to bed.

I was having another nightmare.

* * *

There is a forest surrounding me.

I am running through the woods. I kept coming back to the same spot no matter how much I tried.

Gnawing and howling follow my every move. It is the same pack of wolves from the other night and they had their leader.

As they get closer, I shoot them with arrows.

The only problem was each time I heard them cry out, it was voices of people I knew. When I got to the last wolf instead of howling as the rest did, it spoke. The mutt has the voice of Kain.

"You cannot escape your demise!" he howls.

How I hate him...

I had one arrow left.

Before I could aim for my target, it pounces at me and bites the arrow in half. Face to face with him, I see deep amethyst eyes. I can't move. Its claws began to sharpen. I wait for my death when the wolf is tackled off me. I look to see who helped me.

"Get away you mutt!" he says.

He defeats the wolf with his bare hands and it disappears in thin air.

I was glad; I didn't want to hear Kain speak again. Then my saviour takes his sights on me. I was still on the ground. He is a few feet away from me.

He has ashy blonde hair, fair skin, he is taller than I am, looks my age and has green eyes. It was amazing how familiar he looked. I don't remember anyone like that though.

"Who are you?" I say, terrified.

"Now what to do with you?" he says. I stayed silent. He got closer and I braced myself.

"If you are going to kill me, get over with it." I speak.

He kneels down and moves his face closer to mine. "I won't hurt you," he tells me in a soft voice. "But I will help you up."

I didn't dare look in case it was a trick.

All at once, I wake up.

* * *

I wasn't sure if that was a nightmare or a dream, so I pick nightmare. Liz opens my bedroom door and gestures on her arm: _We have no time!_

I look at the clock and it is almost eleven o'clock in the morning.

I quickly put together an outfit of a dark green blouse, black jeans, my leather jacket, runners, my dove necklace, and I leave my hair down.

Walking out my room, I see my sisters in the kitchen. Liz is wearing a pale blue long sleeve shirt, an indigo cashmere skirt, a white belt, boots, and has her hair in a braid.

Avery is wearing a yellow t-shirt, red shorts, sandals, and has her hair up in a high ponytail. She tosses a granola bar at me and I almost drop it.

"Good Morning." Liz says.

"Morning," I say back. "How are you two?"

"We're good," Liz answers. "You?"

Avery interrupts before I can say anything. "Hurry and eat that." she says "Aden and Penelope is outside waiting for us. _They_ are here."

By _they, _I assume she means the guards who have to pick us up.

I try to eat the granola bar quickly to meet up with our friends. I occasionally choke and Avery would check to see if I was okay.

After a few minutes, we are finally ready to go.

Last night, it was raining so there are puddles everywhere. Penelope is standing outside in an orange dress, a jacket, and heels.

Aden is next to her wearing blue jeans, a purple t-shirt, and runners.

There's a limousine waiting for us.

We give a great group hug and say our last farewells to Penelope.

* * *

We are driven to a dock at around noon, where we see the other tributes, a camera crew, and a few hundred other people all on board either waving or shouting to come on.

The sun was hiding behind clouds, making it cool outside. The ship is huge! It was painted white and green. The logo is a green sand dollar and written on it was the_ Mizu. _In Japanese, that means _ocean_ or _water._ I guess the builders didn't give it much thought.

"Want to have some fun with this?" Aden whispers to me. I smile in agreement.

"Cienna, bet you can't get to the boat before me." Aden shouts loud and convincingly.

"Is that a challenge, Aden?" I shout back powerfully.

Everyone is watching, and each have an expression that says this might be interesting.

"Not with you!" shouts Aden laughing.

We hear the crowd of tributes create something that sounds like an _oooh._

"Really now? Looking at you I don't see much!" I shout with a grin.

The people there break into a laugh and my sisters walk behind us smiling.

We dart to the ship.

I am a little behind Aden, but I catch up, and soon I am ahead.

I get to the end of the dock and am at the beginning of the bridge, then hesitate. I run as fast as I can up. Aden is beside me now. We go for a memorable finish. I step up first and win.

The tributes cheer. They pat us on the back and congratulate me. I step out on the bridge to wave at my sisters. They wave back to us.

Avery calls out, "Be careful, Cienna!"

I nod and turn around to join the rest. My last step back was fatal. I slip and fall to the side.


	4. Chapter 4

I look down and see I am at least a hundred feet off the surface of the ocean.

I close my eyes tightly to stop me from looking down more.

What I can't avoid is my heart from beating so fast. Aden grabs one of my hands and the other is grabbed by someone else. They pull me up then set me down on a bench. I hug Aden in relief.

"I'm endangered even before the games." I say.

"Don't try to make me laugh," he says. "I almost lost you."

"Look who's serious now?" I say. "Thanks, Aden."

I set my eyes on the other person to thank him but instead I stare. It's the familiar boy from my nightmare. He looks exactly as he did before. He gazes back at me.

"Are you okay?" he says.

"I think I am." I say. "Who are you?"

He looks stunned. Though he does answer. "I'm Jack," he tells me. "I'm also from North America."

"Have we met before?" I ask Jack.

He doesn't answer.

I am very annoyed on how my questions are usually not answered. But then again, when they are answered it's usually something I do not want to know.

Liz and Avery push through the crowd and smother me until Jack and Aden have to pry them off me.

I keep a grip on Aden's hand, thinking I could fall again.

* * *

When everyone finds out I am okay, they take off in their own business.

The cruise is starting to depart from the dock. We say our last goodbyes to our home.

Since Jack was there much longer than Liz, Avery, Aden, and I, he showed us where the tributes stayed on board.

We get one third of the whole ship. There is two cabins for each continent, one for the girls and one for the boys.

The cabins in the inside is three beds, two windows, a bathroom, and three dressers. My sisters, and I look around and see each thing is assigned to each individual.

I sit on my bed. It's soft, the covers are smooth, and the pillows are really fluffy.

Before I could fall asleep, someone steps in.

She looks around twenty-five, has tanned skin, brown hair, and hazel eyes.

"Good Afternoon," she says kindly. "My name is Juliet, I am a mentor, a fashion stylist, and prep team for all three of you. I need to get you three ready for tonight's dinner and dance. Who wants to go first?"

"_Ummm_…I'm sorry but mentor? What do you know about fighting?" I ask regretfully.

A pair of silver styling scissors are thrown my way and they miss me by two inches. She meant for it to miss me for my safety.

I put my hands up. "Okay, if _you_ joined the games I would request you for an ally." I say.

She gives off an approving smile.

Liz chooses to go first. Avery and I are ushered out of the cabin.

The day is bright and the temperature is now boiling. Avery decides to explore the ship. I don't stop her. I just tell her I want to wait for Jack and Aden.

I arrive at their cabin and knock on the door. The door flies open. Jack comes out stumbling, as if he were pushed.

"Oh, you were kicked out of your cabin too?" Jack says.

I laugh. "So what happened to Aden?" I ask.

"He's been picked to be prepped first." he answers.

"Okay," I say, trying not to sound disappointed.

Unfortunately, he notices. "You want a guide through the ship? he offers.

"Sure." I say, with a smile. "By the way, how late were we?"

"Let's just say I was taken here at around five am..." he tells me.

We were seven hours late? I know we are occasionally late for school, but this is just ridiculous.

Jack and I walk together with our arms linked.

First, we head to the dining hall. Less than half the tributes were eating lunch; the rest are having fun while they still can.

I look around inside. The floor had velvet covering it, the thin marble walls were polished, the tables and chairs were made of ebony wood. I pull Jack to the end of the room.

"This is where all the tributes will have dinner tonight." he says.

I count how many seats there are and did quick math. There are forty-two tributes, but there are fifty seats.

"We have more than forty-two chairs." I say.

"Joining us will be our stylists and a 'special' guest."

"Who is it?" I ask. "Wait…Don't answer that. My questions never have a good turn out."

"Well you're right that the answer is no good." he says. "Let's go to other places."

We see every deck of the ship and end up at our last location, the pool front.

It is around three in the afternoon. The sun is still blazing. We sit on the edge of the pool with our feet partially in the water. I don't go all the way in because I'm not that great of a swimmer.

"You can swim if you want." I say.

"I know," he says. "I just want to keep you company."

"That's cute." I say, then after realizing what I said, I say: "Oh no, I'm turning into my sisters."

Jack smiles. "It's fine." he says. "They seem nice."

Tributes were playing tag and we decided to join in. A girl tribute named Alala is it.

Alala is tall, has bronze coloured hair, brown eyes, and had rosy skin. She is fast on her feet and has done gymnastics before. In a couple minutes, she tags Jack. He comes after me next. When he does tag me, I tag him back before he can leave.

In advance, I take a parasol and sit alongside a random tribute beside the pool.

I open the parasol as well as immediately snatch the stranger's sunglasses. I didn't know who he was, yet I grabbed his arm, and settled my head on his shoulder.

When Jack's footsteps get closer I organize the parasol so it hides most of me.

"Where did Cienna go?" I over-here Jack's voice.

Luckily, he leaves right away.

"Yes! It worked." I say in triumph.

I turn to the guy I seized. His expression is hard to read. He looks tall, had grey eyes, dark hair, and had tanned skin. I can tell he was just in the pool because he's dripping wet.

"I'm sorry!" I tell him.

"It's all right," he says. "My name's Pierre. I'm from Europe. Nice disguise…Cienna?"

"Yes, that's me." I say. "Here's your sunglasses back...and thank you."

"You're welcome." he says taking them back.

I hurry to get away from being seen by anyone else. Then I crash right into Jack. We both tumble to the ground. Jack gets up first and lends me a hand.

"Gotcha," he says.

I tag Alala, then leave the game. Jack and I walk back to our cabins to get prepped.

My sisters have gone down to the dining hall already, so I'll have to see them later. Juliet starts by examining me and asks what type of colour I liked.

"Green," I say. "It seems lucky to me and I love forests."

My mentor goes to her cabin. When she comes back I see in her hands an outfit of a white ruffled sleeveless shirt, green shorts, knee high black boots, a black leather jacket, and a beaded belt.

"I love this!" I say.

"Thank you." she says. "The colours will compliment your skin tone."

My hair gets a trim and is straightened. Fortunately, I get to keep my hair long. To make my nails perfect, they are being filed evenly. Juliet talks to me as she works.

"Congrats on your victory over that adorable friend of yours." Juliet says.

"Thanks." I say. "Juliet? You've met Aden?

"Yes, I have." she says. "Sweet boy, he was looking for you. When I asked why, he started to blush and he said 'No reason.' Aden must pay a lot of attention to you. I asked for your personality and what you're like to help me choose an angle for you. He came inside then explained nearly everything about you from: how you can't make a joke to save your life, that you can sing beautifully, as well as your how you can't stand the idea of someone having a crush on you; so you would try to drive that person into liking someone else. He even told me how you can't break a promise. Then he left."

She seems to be talking about something else after. "I have to work on you and I don't like seeing clueless people wandering around. That annoys me." Juliet pauses to think then keeps talking. "He cares for you," she says warmly. "Do you care for him?"

"He's my best friend, of course I do." I say.

"No, I mean more than that." she says gently.

"I was trying to avoid that question," I say. "But I don't know. What I do know is he is going to be hard to drive away."

She laughs then works on me more.

Juliet knows I dislike make-up so she doesn't use nail polish, lip gloss, or even perfume on me. I'm glad because that all would make me puke. She also wants to make me look as natural as possible, meaning no make-up at all. I smile to that idea.

"There you go!" she says while wrapping up her belongings. "Some advice as a mentor: Be yourself."

"Thanks again." I say.

"No problem," she says. "I'll see you at dinner soon."

I walk right into the dining hall.

* * *

Liz and Avery jump out of their seats and greet me.

"_Awwww…_ You're so cute!" Liz says.

Liz is wearing a pink one sleeve shirt, a red ruffled skirt, pink heels, and her hair was straightened.

Avery has a blue blouse, dark blue shorts with ankle high boots, a black scarf, and her hair was also straightened.

We sit together. On the left of Liz is Aden, on the right of me is Jack, and in between Liz and I is Avery. My sisters giggle when they hear me talk with Jack about how I escaped him in tag with the help of Pierre.

"You're very resourceful," Jack says. "I'll remember that in the games."

"Ally, or enemy?" I say.

Once I say that everyone stops talking. At first I think it might be because me, however it isn't.

We all watch as our 'special guest' sits accompanied by bodyguards and a camera crew. My eyes widen to seeing our new addition to the table has purple eyes. It's Kain.


	5. Chapter 5

"Good evening, tributes." he says casually. "To introduce ourselves we shall play a little game."

I fake cough. "With you, no thanks."

Everyone laughs except for Kain. The bodyguards even guffaw.

"Miss Sanders, I expect you to be respectful." he says.

"Oh I'm sorry," I say, and then stand up. I curtsey, pretending to have a skirt to pinch, and copy his tone, while batting my eyes. "Mr. Lowell, is this respectful enough?"

Everyone goes ecstatic, most trying to hold back laughter. Kain is furious at me now. I wonder how long he can he last?

"Enough!" he yells. "I will not tolerate your wisecracks."

The room falls silent. _Why shouldn't we?_ _He is going to kill most of us._ Avery knows what I'm thinking and pinches my arm to prevent me from actually saying it.

"Let's start with you and end with Cienna." says Kain, pointing to Jack. "Say your name and tell us something you want to share."

"I'm Jack." says Jack. "Cienna, I think your curtsey _wasn't_ low enough."

"Oh my bad," I say, curtseying so low that my head is at knee level. "This okay?"

"Much better." he says, smiling.

Everyone starts to burst into laughter. I see Kain is agitated.

"Moving on," Kain says while gritting his teeth.

We do as told. I learn more of the tributes' names. Several of the tributes stand out to me.

There is an Asian girl named Kimmy, who likes to sing. I can relate to that.

Selene the European girl, says she owns a café. Liz and Avery's eyes gleam right at her.

Alala from South America, tells us she loves her pet rabbit. I thought it was nice until she said she would hurt anyone who would make fun of that.

Keres of Africa, she says has a great skill with metal and wood working. That might be a useful advantage in the tournament. So I was naturally amazed.

Pierre the European guy I hid beside, hesitates then says he travels with his family all the time. I have never actually travelled far from my home, Cure Cove, the café, or school.

Elliot a boy from Asia, can speak many languages. All of us were blown away by that fact.

Uriash from North America, skateboards and he happens to have great balance. I tried skateboarding once, but it turned out not so pleasant.

It gets to Aden's turn and he says, "I miss my little sister Penelope."

"Aden you're not alone, Avery, Cienna, and I do too." Liz says giving him a hug.

Some of the tributes give them an "_Awwww_." I turn red and drink some water.

"Hi, I'm Avery. I just wanna ask: Cienna, why so red? You jealous?" Avery says as a joke, also finishing her turn.

I spit take. Everyone laughs and this time Kain too.

"I'm not jealous!" I say, with an embarrassed face.

* * *

Dinner is over and we head to the dance. The room is as big as a school gym.

There's a stage with microphones, the camera crew, Kain, his guards, and a bunch of technical equipment.

The tributes start dancing to the music. I stay out of it, standing on the side because I'm a horrible dancer. After a while, Kain takes a microphone and everyone freezes.

"Who wants to sing?" he says.

Silence takes over until three figures run up to the stage. It's Aden and my sisters.

"_You_ want to sing?" asks Kain.

"No! Not at all." says Aden. "That could kill everyone." I hear a bit of laughter at the back, breaking the silence. "I know someone who can sing though." he says, excitedly. "If we cheer her on she probably won't, but I could force her to if I have to."

_Uh oh._ This can't be good. I run for the exit. Unfortunately, Aden's closer to the door. He jumps off the stage with the microphone and grabs my arm.

"Cienna, please sing." he begs.

I hear the crowd cheering me on. I start to get butterflies.

On stage, my sisters shout to me. "Sing, girl! We'll even open for you!"

I can't head out without singing so I take the mike. The crowd cheers louder as Aden guides me to the stage.

"We are going to open with three songs, then our little sister will sing. Most songs we actually know is written by one of our best friends, Penelope." they say.

* * *

Liz chooses me a song to sing and Avery literally pushes me on to the center of the stage.

I figured out the song when it started. It was one of my favourites that Penelope wrote.

I didn't sound perfect, although I did do great with my voice. This was proved by the applause and whistling.

I see my sisters heading toward the song player. Fortunately, I stop Liz from putting another song by holding her wrists to her back, before she could change the song. I fend off anyone who tried to get to the music player.

Everyone sees that and looks intimidated on what I could do. I stepped into the spotlight and called up Kimmy. She looked worried but I knew she was excited to sing.

Then I drag my sisters by hair and they follow. Aden and Jack follow, most likely to make sure I don't kill them.

* * *

All five of us leave the party first to get to our cabins.

We want to get up early for more time to have fun on the boat. Liz and Avery goes ahead, so I am stuck between Aden and Jack.

I look down to think.

It's not bad between them, but I'm not sure what I should feel with them both beside me. Tense? Relieved? Safe? It's crazy. I've been protected by people who think I can't take care of myself. I don't _want_ it and I definitely don't _need_ it.

Just then I hear two screams. I look up. The moon gives off a dim light to show we are at the pool front.

_No one's there. Liz and Avery were taken!_

I yell out their names. Nothing.

My friends keep me close. Aden gets knocked out first.

I meet Jack's eyes as he holds me tightly. However, I feel him release. Jack's knocked out next.

I scream to them but they don't get up.

There is the sound of running and two figures being picked up. Aden and Jack are gone. I wasn't alone though.

"Show yourselves!" I say.

Lights turn on. I see six of Kain's body guards surrounding me. I hear foot steps but the guards aren't moving. Kain and four other guards come in the circle. The four guards are holding my friends and family.

"What did you do to them?" I ask.

"Just blow them unconscious," Kain says casually. "Oh, and if you're wondering; I won't put an end to their lives...yet. When the ones who care most for you awaken, I will let them watch your slow and painful demise."

_That's a little harsh. Wait…_who_ does he mean when he said 'the ones who care most for you'? Does he mean my sisters? Or Aden? What does he know?_

I shake my head to clear out my thoughts. "Let them go!" I shout.

"Now why would I do that?" he says, then he snaps. "Get her!"

The six surrounding me runs closer. I had to think fast.

I jump up and bend my knees when coming down. My feet land right on one guard. He falls down and bumps his head on the floor. One down, five to go.

I glare at Kain. "Don't over or underestimate what a teenage girl can do." I say confidently.

I quickly run past one of them and they start to chase me.

I get to the pool.

Two are rushing for me, probably to tackle me into the water.

When they get close enough, I spin to the side. They see I slipped away and stop before falling in themselves.

So I raise one leg and kick them both on their backs. They both fall into the pool. Since I don't know if they can swim either, I throw them each a life saver.

Half done, half more to go. I pick up a beach chair and hit a guard on his temple, an instant knock-out.

Two left. I dash away from one. He's still on my trail. The other is in front of me, ready to grab me. I run faster to him. Before he gets a hold of me I slide right under him and kick him forward. He crashes into his team-mate.

I tilt my head a little and grin.

_Have a nice fall._

I just provd how I can defend myself from obstacles in my way.

Now, to my next predicament... I abandon anything that comes to mind and focus on this fight. I grab a parasol and face Kain.

"Give them back!" I yell fiercely. "I am _not_ afraid to use this."

"What are you going to do?" he says, snickering. "Give me shade until I freeze to death?"

"Don't tempt me." I say.

"You think you can hurt me?" he asks.

"Give them back!" I repeat, clearly not listening to his stupid questions.

"And if I don't?" he says, with a pout that looks like he's trying to make fun of me.

"Then _I'll_ take them back _myself_!" I say, breaking off the top of the parasol, leaving me with a metal pole.

I show off how terrific I can use it as a bo staff. Sadly I drop it, making me look less threatening.

"Ha, you can't even use that," he says. "How are you going to do any harm?"

"Just watch me." I say.

"Put the others down and capture this insolent pest!" he demands.

These four are different from the others. They're quicker than the rest. They give me a bad feeling...

One gets behind me. I rapidly turn and strike his gut. He falls backwards to hits his head on the floor. That was a distraction for me. Another guard takes my staff, lifts it with me on the other end, and tried to spin me off.

The other two try to get closer. I take this opportunity to kick them in their chests. I start to get dizzy, so I let go and land wrong. My right ankle is twisted. The guard that's still left puts me in a head lock.

"Give it up now." Kain says at my face.

"Never." I say under my breath.

I take action by pressure pointing the guard, following with stomping on his foot with my left foot. I guess I pressure pointing was a bit much, since he can barely move. I push him away from me and he drops.

My eyes slowly meet with Kain. In no time, he has his hands around my neck, choking me.

"I need to dispose of you," he hisses. "But time has run out and someone's coming, I would be blamed for this unfortunate event. That won't do. Keep quiet unless you want _someone's _little sister to die."

He lets go and leaves as I faint, feeling lifeless.


	6. Chapter 6

I wake with five pairs of eyes gazing at me.

With my vision right now, I see silhouettes instead of people.

Panicking, I take a hold of a pillow and hit them all in a line. Then I am aware that I am lying on my bed in my cabin. I have a bandage on my ankle.

Soon, I take my attention to who I hit. There over me is Liz, Aden, Avery, Jack, and Juliet.

"Do you always hurt someone when you wake up?" says Aden, grinning down at me.

"Don't tease her." my sisters say in unison.

"Wow, that's creepy." Aden says.

In reaction to that, my sisters take a pillow each and lightly hit him.

"Are you okay?" Jack asks, running his fingers through my hair.

He and Juliet seem to ignore the fact that my sisters are pounding Aden with feathers.

I don't answer. Now they're all concerned.

"What happened yesterday?" Juliet asks. "I saw you five on the ground. There were _a lot _injured men. Did you do that?"

"I can't say." I tell them. "Penelope's life could be at stake."

Now they know I did. Aden kneels down and asks in a soft voice. "What about her? Is she okay?"

"I think so, but what happened yesterday stays secret for her safety." I whisper in his ear.

"Okay, now let her rest." says my mentor.

I fall sleep before anyone leaves.

* * *

No one knows I am awake now. All I can do is listen and think to myself. But I know Aden and Jack are here. They are talking about someone. When I hear them say _her_, I pinpoint that directly to me.

"Do you think Kain tried to kill her?" asks Jack.

"Well she was mocking him and making him look foolish." says Aden. "But he can already do that on his own."

"I should have been more alert." Jack says. "That way I could've kept her safe. Instead, she beat up ten guards, almost dying to defending herself."

"Don't blame yourself, remember I blacked out first." says Aden.

"So it was both our faults she's in this condition." Jack says, sounding disappointed.

"It's pretty impressive of her," Aden says. "Ten guards to herself. I am talking about the girl who can't win at arm wrestling."

It's true. I would lose in half a second or probably less. Even after a ten second head start, I wouldn't be able to move my opponent a centimeter.

They both chuckle, quietly for my sake. Then I close out everything on my mind.

* * *

Next time I awaken, Jack is sitting on a chair beside my bed. It's late afternoon and there's no one else here.

"Why are you still here?" I say coldly.

"I was worried about you." he says. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I heard you and Aden talking about my ability of arm wrestling." I say, hiding my point. He understands what I really mean and says nothing. "You know it's not your fault so don't feel bad." He doesn't respond. "Or I won't forgive you."

"Okay," Jack tells me, slightly smiling. "I don't want to see you scared again."

"Again?" I ask.

"Last night before I collapsed," he says. "Also when…"

"When what?" I ask.

"It's nothing." he says.

_He couldn't have meant my nightmare with him and the wolves. Could he?_

I forget how hungry I am until we hear my stomach. I see my lunch at the other end of my bed. I get out of the covers and take it.

Jack strikes up a conversation. "Were you really jealous of Liz when she hugged Aden?" he asks.

"Are you jealous of me being jealous?" I ask, countering his question.

"Hey, I asked you first." he says, grinning at me.

I look at a wall. "I don't know." I answer. "Liz is my sister and Aden is one of my best friends. Then I found out from his little sister that he loves me. I don't like the idea of anyone having strong feelings for me. So it's weird for a friend to…" I bit my lower lip because I can't finish.

"Basically, you love him as a friend, but not anything else?" he simplifies it.

"I think so," I say, then I smirk. "Now answer my question. Are you jealous of me being jealous?"

"Yes. Kind of, I guess." he says. My eyes widen. "I can't explain it to you though." I turn around to avoid looking at him; thinking if I do I might blush.

"What do you think of me?" I let out, covering my mouth right after. "I'm sorry, I'm just curious."

"Only if you tell me what you think about me first." he says slyly.

My curiosity got the best of me. "To tell you the truth, you're hard to figure out." I say. "You might be more, but on my list right now you are: kind, trusting, bold, funny, and life-threatening,"

"Maybe I can change life-threatening to life-changing." he calmly says, while getting closer to me. He leans over and stops where our lips almost touch. I focus my eyes on him to see if he's joking.

Right at that moment, Avery comes in with our dinner and sees us.

We turn to her quickly and shout together, "It's not what it looks like!"

She giggles and asks, "What do you two think it looks like to me?" We have the same answer but don't say it. "Okay I'll leave you two alone." We both turn red. "Oh, and I won't tell anyone."

Avery leaves without another word.

Jack and I laugh so hard our ribs hurt. He moves back to his chair.

"_Geez_, you're _mean_ too! You tease me worse than Aden does," I say, embarrassed. "I almost believed you."

"Maybe I wasn't acting." After a long pause he says, "Nah, I was."

I suppress a smile. "Stay amused now. I will get you back." I promise him. Jack just smiles. "I did my part, now do yours."

"Alright, alright." he says, taking his attention to me. "I always thought of you as…" he says, then stops.

"As what?" I ask him.

Juliet comes into the room. "Good you're awake!" she says. "This time I'm prepping you first."

My mentor ushers Jack away and takes me to her cabin. The room she stays in is full of fabric and make-up. I am amazed by the designs in each corner. This makes me think it's a museum for stylists.

"Wow," I say. "These are beautiful."

She gives a nod. The only things I need done are my hair, my ankle, and an outfit.

"There." she says. "Instead of flats I'll give you boots again to hide your injury."

Next I get changed.

This time my brilliant stylist gives me a ruffled green and white dress. Its length is past my knees. The way it's layered makes me look like a rose. The fabric looks genuinely like petals and leaves; in fact, it feels like it too. She lets me keep the leather jacket I used yesterday to match with the boots.

"It may not be what I expected," she says. "But it does go together pretty well."

"Is there a reason you're dressing me up like this?" I ask.

"Each continent has to have a theme for the cameras." she explains. "My companion Marco, and I have chosen elements."

"What do you mean by elements?" I ask.

"Light, darkness, fire, water, air, and earth," she says simply. "I get to do the last three."

I think about this for a minute.

"Oh! So I'm earth?" I ask.

She nods. Since she doesn't know if I saw her, she said, "Yes. Marco will be doing the first three because of a certain talent he has with…electricity." she says.

We walk out the door after finishing.

I head back to my cabin, but I have to go myself because Juliet needs to get my sisters done. The whole area seems empty. On the way there, I am snatched away.

* * *

It's Kain, without his crew, no body guards, or anyone else. I try to break away from his hold on me, but it doesn't work.

He bores his amethyst eyes at me.

"Look who's all dressed up." he says, tugging on my necklace. "So delicate, yet so strong. You know what? You kind of resemble a certain character. Katniss Everdeen. Most of how you look and your very annoying attitude. Although, I am sure she was the _girl on fire_."

"What do you want?" I say bitterly.

"To make sure you recall what I said yesterday," he says, in a pitiful voice. Penelope; poor child, defenseless, alone, and _pathetic_."

"She is _not_ defenseless. She is _never_ alone and she is especially not _pathetic_. If I had to choose, _you_ would be on the top of that list." I say.

"Now, now, don't be difficult." he says, letting go of one of my wrists.

I take this time to make a fist and throw it at his direction. It gets an inch from his face, then he clenches it tightly to block from having a broken nose.

"So you don't need your babysitters anymore." I say.

Kain continues, ignoring my comment. "I would have let only one victor win these games. However, majority says to keep six and divide it evenly after." I drop my head down to avoid his sneer. Then he lifts my chin up, forcing me to look up. "This is where Penelope comes in."

"Let her go," I say. "She has _nothing_ to do with this."

"If you want to guarantee her safety, the _only _way possible is to deprive your existence." he shouts at my face.

The thought occurres to me and I realize what he's trying to do. "Are you blackmailing me?" I ask angrily.

"It's not blackmail, more like a deal, when I have the upper hand." he tells me.

I hate him even more now. Past the games and yesterday, he has not only crossed the line, and broke the border I keep for peace. The third world war might've come. But now there's another war accompanied with it, but this one is between him and I.

"Why?" I ask sharply. "Is this only directed to me?"

"Of course," he says. "You are the most _irritating_ problem. For myself, I get more than one issue solved."

Not including how messed up I think Kain is, he may a point. I am the center of his problems and can be the ending to them.

For one thing, if I cease to exist, my sisters and friends will be devastated. Meaning his revenge has been done.

Secondly, Kain has already read _The Hunger Games_, so he thinks I could start a rebellion (Because of his insane thought of me being someone alike to Katniss of _this_ life) against the government. Which clearly states to both of us; I am his threat over power. He still gets to keep ruling over everyone if I'm not alive, so he doesn't care who gets what land.

Then he decided to use Penelope's life against me. It's either I die or she does. He and I _know_ I won't let her die. I conclude to my other option.

"My death will be in the tournament," I say stiffly. "But you can't hurt anyone else, especially those who are close to me. Promise that."

"It's a deal." he says. "I will send people to kill you before the games, if possible."

I keep quiet.

He adds quickly, "And make your death look_ believable_."

He pushes me away roughly then walks off with an eerie laugh.


	7. Chapter 7

I run off in tears. This feels exactly like yesterday, I am being choked. My end is near and there is no one to help me.

At my cabin, Aden stands out the door.

I run right to him. I also didn't notice how much my ankle hurt until I stopped.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

I don't answer and keep crying.

Aden takes me to his cabin. I sit on one of the beds. He joins me and tries to comfort me.

It's always relaxing for me to be with him. He lets me hug him until I calm down. He's so warm. I can pour out my feelings to him and he won't complain.

I do the same for him when he needs me there. Aden's one of the people I can't afford to lose.

Now I don't want worry too much, so I hold back tears and back away. I know things that involve him. Even at risk, I have to tell him.

I sit closer to him, and clarify all that has occurred in his ear, from yesterday's ambush to today's encounter. I omit what happened with Jack, to spare Aden from misunderstanding.

"I don't want to cause you anymore trouble." I say.

My sisters and I got him into this tournament, I worried him sick, he doesn't know that I _know_ his 'weakness', he got knocked out cold, and for all I know his little sister could be dead.

"You would cause more trouble to me if you didn't live." he whispers, pulling me in close.

"You have to let me go through with it, Penelope is important to all of us." I say back.

"I'll get rid of Kain before anything like that happens." he says, putting an arm around me. Before I can say more, Aden stops me. "We will figure out how to keep my sister _and _you alive. In the meantime, you should at least act brave. That will show him you aren't scared."

"But I am." I say.

"Don't worry," he says, now wrapping his arms around me. "I will always be here for you. You're allowed to cry on me anytime."

"Thank you." I say gently, laying my head on his shoulder.

We stay quiet for a while.

"You weren't really jealous of Liz at dinner, were you?" he asks.

"Why do people keep asking me that?" I ask, with my hands covering my face.

For some reason, I start to laugh and Aden joins in.

* * *

He escorts me to the room where we're supposed to be interviewed. We hide behind the red velvet curtains.

The place was enormous. It was filled with a sea of people. I can tell we came early since there were still half of the seats empty. A silver plasma screen television hangs up from the ceiling. The floor is tiled black, while the walls are painted silver.

I look down and see my dress, which completely stands out in the set.

Aden is the same. He is wearing a dark blazer with a red t-shirt underneath, matching dark pants, and a pair of dark shoes. His whole outfit glows warmly, literally. With red, orange, and yellow, fades dark, then repeats.

Fire, that's what he's been dressed as! Marco did a great job with his design. I finally understand what Juliet meant by, _"Marco will be doing the first three because of a certain talent he has with…electricity." _I thought maybe light bulbs or something, but this is remarkable. Now I wonder what everyone else will look like.

People start to rush in, a few each time. By the time all the tributes have gathered backstage, there are no empty seats left. Everyone is chatting, minding their own business.

Avery and Jack wait back stage talking to the other tributes.

Avery symbolizes the sea. Her dress is an ocean blue, which flows out beautifully, along with a pearl belt. She has blue heels as well as her hair is curled and wavy.

Jack's outfit includes a white suit that seems to brighten a little each time, a white t-shirt, and sneakers. His skin tone completes it perfectly. Marco has selected light for him.

They walk up to us. Something else catches my eye, so I pivot to the side.

I see Liz and Uriash step toward where Aden and I are.

Aden whispers to me, "They have been nothing else but close since last night. Uriash hauled us to our cabins and called our mentors. He helped by wrapping your ankle and Liz's arm."

One of my instincts starts acting without me knowing. I walk up to Uriash, hug him tightly, and thank him. He is speechless and startled.

Uriash has brown short hair, blue eyes, tanned skin, Aden's height, and he was perhaps sixteen. He is wearing a suit identical to Jack and Aden's, except his shirt is black. It was the same dark fabric as Aden's, except the design had something like a shadow shifting in one direction as if it was chasing something. He is representing darkness.

My sister, Liz, is wearing a feathered dress that has the colours of a sunset, with matching flats. She also has her hair braided with feathers. Juliet has given her the element of sky.

Liz and Aden both looks like envious. Uriash and I are pulled away by them; Liz taking Uriash and Aden taking me. The looks on their faces show that they're probably thinking: _looks like I have a new rival_.

I glanced over to Uriash, and he glances back. We mouth each other what we want to say.

_"Thank you for saving us."_ I say.

_"No problem," _Uriash says back.

_"Oh, I think my sister is crushing on you." _I say.

He raises his right eyebrow. _"Really?" _I nod. _"Aden gazes at you a lot."_

"I kind of noticed." I say a loud.

I have every pair of eyes look at me. I laugh at my mistake.

Soon, Uriash follows it to assure everyone else I'm not mad; or at least not the _only_ one. I'm sure we could be great allies, and friends.

Then Aden literally carries me off the ground and takes me a few meters away. When we get there, I make a fuss and he spins us around.

"Hey, let me go!" I say, clutching my arms around his neck. "You know I can't take heights."

"That's why I shouldn't." he says, smiling.

"Don't be so mean!" I say, closing my eyes and laughing. "What did I ever do to you?"

After a bit, he finally decides to put me down. We are now aware the entire room is inaudible. Everyone looks completely perplexed, which bothered me. It's such an awkward couple of minutes, but the program start and we all get into order.

* * *

The program commences with a middle aged lady walking slowly to the cherry wood desk in the middle of the stage. How she looks is quite distracting. She has purple hair, kaleidoscope eyes, and peachy coloured skin.

"Good evening to all," she calls out. "I am Tallulah Keener, your hostess. May we give a hand to the tributes tonight?"

There is a loud applause. It goes on until Tallulah takes her seat.

"I will interview each continent in the order they were chosen." she says. "Europe is up first."

There was so much talking, an occasional laugh, and from time to time, serious parts.

However, Tallulah is the opposite of Caesar Flickerman of _The Hunger Games_. She would start off nice to throw to us off, next gossips about others, and for last, finds out secrets or turning things into something much more horrible than it was. Some of the tributes actually left crying.

She moves on to each continent leaving North America last. As our turn is nearing, I start shaking. When a continent gets boring they bring up the next group.

Aden squeezes my hand to let me know he's still here for me. It helps, but not much. I am anxious, considering I might say something wrong, freeze up, or do something senseless.

South America's tributes wrap up their discussion and we are called up. The six chairs that form a line have me once again between Aden and Jack. I'm not sure why but in the middle, I feel more nervous yet safe all at once. Us six hold hands to show we are all in this together no matter what. The line is: Avery, Liz, Uriash, Aden, me, Jack, and Tallulah.

She welcomes us warmly, and then she asks us each questions. Tallulah feels nicer now, so I relax a little.

"As sisters of this tournament, how did you react to having all three of you being drawn? Didn't it seem impossible?" Tallulah says.

"Yes it did." Liz says simply. "We were so shocked."

"Not really," I mutter.

"What did you say?" Tallulah says, raising her left eyebrow. I panic without showing it.

_Why did I say that?_ I can't tell her about Kain's set up or he'll kill Penelope for sure!

"She coughed and said 'Really,'" Aden answers. I put a note in mind to keep my mouth shut as well as to thank Aden later.

"Cienna, are you catching a fever?" she asks in distress.

"I'm fine." I say strongly._ Be brave._ To prove to Kain I am unbreakable, even though I am.

"By the way you six are holding hands; I am assuming you are friends. Am I right?" Tallulah says.

"Yes we are," Avery says, giggling. "But some of us are closer than others."

Avery has Tallulah and the audience very curious. I tilt my head to her, also interested. I wonder if she means Uriash and Liz. Ten seconds fly by and Tallulah speaks again.

"Aden, what is your relationship with Cienna?" Tallulah says. "We _all_ saw what happened before the interview."

I look at him and try to figure out what he is about to say.

"We are just…friends." he says.

I smile at him and see him smiling back. I'm glad he didn't announce to the whole world his feelings for me.

"Jack, what is she to you?" Tallulah says suspiciously.

_What does she expect exactly? I haven't known Jack that long._ Then again, Liz seems to admire Uriash in a short amount of time.

"I think of her as my friend too." Jack answers. "Why?"

Tallulah frowns like something isn't right. "Let's see." She presses a button and the silver plasma screen TV turns on. It replays my fall in the beginning when Aden and Jack rescued me, tag with our fellow tributes, and the dinner Jack and I were 'smart' talking in Kain's presence. She pauses the screen after that.

"That doesn't prove anything." Jack tells Tallulah. "Anyone could have done that."

"True, but I didn't show all of it yet, did I?" she says.

_What else does she know? I didn't exactly do anything else with him, right?_

She presses another button and it blinks into another video. I can tell they were filming outside, since some of the ocean showed.

The date on the right corner is today. Someone calls the camera person over to a window. The camera is shaking a lot so I couldn't see who they were. They looked abnormally familiar.

Finally, the camera got a stand and stood still. The voices were clear. The crew enhanced the vision of the video to perfect.

_"Maybe I can change life-threatening to life-changing." _he says very calmly, while getting closer to the other person.

That is definitely Jack. I'm puzzled. Jack was with me almost the whole time today. This couldn't have been filmed today unless…this was when Jack and I were in my cabin!

I stare at the screen again.

In the video right now, he is right over my face. I start to blush a deep red, and Aden's grip on my hand grows tighter.

If I was someone else, I would have thought Jack and I kissed. It looked exactly like it.

I hear the audience either "_oooh,"_ just as they did when I arrived to this boat. They would also whistle like they expected this or wanted this to happen.

When Jack and I shout to Avery, _"It's not what it looks like!"_, the crowd would crack up as well as murmur to each other.

Aden lets go of my hand.

He stands up and his eyes meet with mine. Aden gazes at me. No, he _glares_ at me; a face I've never seen him give me. His expression is mixed with anger, disbelief, somewhat embarrassment, and betrayal.


	8. Chapter 8

The screen has Avery exiting and our hostess turns off the TV. Aden is about to leave when I pull him down. I didn't want him to go, despising me. So I act without thinking.

"I object!" I yell so loudly the whole room froze.

Tallulah slams her hands on her desk and snaps. "This _isn't_ court!"

"Well, I object anyways!" I say.

"I object too!" Jack announces, standing up. "We didn't kiss! I was just joking!"

I glance at Aden and say to him, "Please believe me, I wouldn't kiss anyone unless it's a life or death situation."

I start to tear up because he isn't responding.

_Why won't he answer? Is he even listening to me?_

I prove my point by giving him a peck on his cheek then shout, "You know I wouldn't!"

I rush out of the room and bust right through the doors. My ankle starts to sting.

I wish I could dash my way to Cure Cove for my injury, but I can't because I'm on a ship, many seas from home. So I take off to my cabin. I find my bed, take off my boots, then slip into the covers without changing anything else.

* * *

I am woken up by someone feeling my forehead. I expect to see Jack but I'm right_ and_ wrong. Jack is sitting on a chair along with Juliet, Uriash, and Aden standing.

"Your sisters will be back soon." Uriash tells me.

Jack runs his fingers through my hair again; which soothes me. "You have a habit of worrying everyone, don't you?" he asks.

I turn my head with perseverance, refusing to talk to them.

"Two people would like to ask for your forgiveness." Juliet says softly.

Somehow she made it sound like I'm the ruler and they're my slaves, asking for mercy. I respect that but I also contempt it. I'm surprised to see Tallulah walking up from behind Juliet.

"I apologize," she says in guilt. "For what happened. Kain asked me to treat the other tributes like that as well as crush _you _into a million pieces."

"Well, it worked." I speak, looking at her.

"Thanks," she says, without feeling. "I do best on committing to my work. Unfortunately, I did so great, the audience and the world still think you and Jack are together. On the other hand, you could use this as an advantage in the tournament and if you stay alive in the end, I might be able to convince them you two are not a couple."

I stay absolutely motionless at the idea. Aden comes up next and I tuck my head under my pillow. I hear his voice over my head. "I should've listened to you. I'm ashamed for not trusting my best friend. I'm sorry…"

I start to think about what he's saying.

Then I fling my arms around him. "It's okay," I tell him.

I also see the others, except Jack, have backed up. They looked frightened; the very look that prey would have against their predator. Did they expect me to hurt Aden or even _them_? Everything feels much better now. "It's life or death for me to have my friends or family hating me."

"_Awwww_." We all look at the door. It's Liz and Avery with man I'm not sure I know.

"Sorry," Liz says. "We ruined the moment, didn't we?"

"Yep," Avery answers. "Our bad."

My sisters are holding trays with sandwiches, muffins, drinks, and other foods.

"Hurry please," Liz says. "The other tributes are waiting for all of you at the picnic."

"Picnic?" I ask. "When was this planned exactly?"

Tallulah steps in our conversation, in a calm tone. "I am holding a picnic; it's mostly for the feelings of people I destroyed. Your mentors will be joining us too, for restraining anyone who gets into a fight."

"Which means me too!" says someone, that sounds kind of psychotic.

I realize that person is the one beside my sisters. He has snow white hair which sticks up, silver eyes, dark skin, and is wearing a lab coat. He reminds me of a middle aged, mad scientist. I start to freak out because he walks up to me.

"I understand we haven't met before." he says, holding out a hand. "I am Juliet's fashion buddy! Marco's my name!"

I think he is the most bizarre adult I've met on this boat. _Fashion buddy?_ I decide to leave that out for later. I raise my hand to shake his but Aden, Jack, and Uriash pushes Marco back.

"What are you doing?" I say. "He's just being nice."

"Well, when we came on the boat to meet him," Uriash says. "He shook all of our hands and gave us either—"

"Slime that tightens on your wrists if you struggle," Jack continues.

"Honey with an army of red fire ants," Aden adds.

"Or a magnet glued on your skin. It was so strong it stuck me onto the door knob for hours." Uriash finishes.

"Really?" I say. I stood up and check Marco's palms. In the hand he was going to shake mine with had a little machine. "A joy buzzer?"

"It gives me joy; however, not to anyone else…" Marco says happily. Now I _know_ he is the most bizarre _person _on this boat. He keeps going, "Watch…"

He takes a pillow from one of the beds and uses the buzzer. _Zap! _The pillow explodes into a storm of feathers. Liz runs up to me and guards my head. Everyone else forms a human shield around me.

"That could've been Cienna?" Avery shrieks.

"Of course!" Marco says, as if that was normal.

Juliet rushes up to him and confiscates his little 'toy.' "What did I just tell you?!" she shouts angrily. "You are not allowed _ever_, to explode anything or anyone that is alive or important!"

"Don't break it!" Marco screams, just like an eight year old. _How odd._

"Bad Marco, you get a time out!" Juliet says, pointing to a bed.

When he starts to whimper, Juliet ties his arms up with hair accessories and drags him to the other side of the cabin.

"If that is his type of prank; I wouldn't want to be on his bad side." I say.

"I think even Kain is afraid of him," Aden says. "Only Juliet could prevent him from even turning this ship into another replay of _The Titanic_."

* * *

After a few minutes, Marco settles down and Juliet unties him. He starts to skip in a circle, tripping often.

I go to the bathroom and change into a yellow skirt, a red plaid shirt, my leather jacket, and runners. We all take off to the pool front. It's a bright afternoon. I walk until Marco pulls my arm to skip with him.

You know," he says. "I have never lost a race."

That's a challenge. So I nod, indicating _You're on!_

We run and I am much ahead. I am several steps to winning, so I turn to see how far he is.

Marco takes three red cubes out of his lab coat pocket. I assume he wants me to trip over them when he throws them forward. I dodge two that blow up into smoke. CUBE GRENADES?!

The last one is thrown right in front of me. It makes it impossible to see. I keep running and end up sliding to the finish. Even though I have won, my obscured makes me slide until I trip over someone.

"I'm sorry!" I say. I take sight on where I am. I'm sitting right on Pierre's lap. "I'm really sorry again!"

"Hiding again?" Pierre asks.

"No, another race." I answer. "Instead of Aden, it's-"

"Me!" says Marco, holding out his hand. "I was quiet close."

"Not really…" I say under my breath.

I check his hand before grabbing it. "Don't worry," he yells, even though I'm facing him. "Something's only there when I meet someone new!" He searches beside Pierre. "Maybe you!" he says to Kimmy.

"Kimmy!" I say, smacking away Marco's hand. "He may try to make you explode; so I would recommend to _not_ shake his hand _ever_."

Kimmy starts to laugh. "Okay?"

* * *

Now that I get to talk to her, I can see she has: brown eyes, tanned skin, dark tied up hair, and is wearing a yellow sundress, black boots, and a miniature top hat hair clip.

When Liz and Avery arrive, Kimmy and I act as waitresses while talking to each other.

We wait on people until night fall.

I spot her staring blankly into space at our break. It bothers me, so I try to snap her back. Sadly, when I try to snap, I failed miserably. Thereupon, I decide to just talk.

"Kimmy?" I ask. "You who? Anyone home? Kimmy!"

I give up and just shake her; she finally comes back.

"Huh?" she asks slightly startled.

"You kind of zoned out." I say, chucking pieces of bread down my throat. "Not that it's any of my business, but what were you thinking about?"

"I don't know who I admire more: Pierre or Aden." she says honestly. I choke on hearing her say Aden's name in that sentence. "Are you okay?" she asks, patting my back.

"_Ummm…_Yeah." I say in my timid voice.

"You mind me liking Aden, don't you?" she says. "You are his best friend, well…as he tells me. He's so adorable. I also thought you were with Jack; you know the interview and all."

Jack and Aden jump up from behind us. Ordinarily, I get scared easily; hence my stagger forward. Jack leans in with a peck on my nose.

"Actually we are," he says. I look at him and he mouths: _Tell you later._

"Kimmy, do you really like me?" Aden asks with enthusiasm. "Because I think you're pretty cool. Actually, pretty and cool."

"Smooth, Romeo." I say sarcastically.

She starts to blush as I go along with this…_for now_. "I'm sorry Kimmy; I should've told you he had a _thing_ for you_._" I lie.

Aden knows I can't fib, so he covers my mouth and turns completely red. "Don't tell her that!" he whispers loud and sharply.

I'm still not sure if he does like her that way or not, although right now he sounds silly _and_ lovesick.

Slow jazz is added to the sea breeze. Paper lanterns flicker on; into a soft warm glow.

Jack takes my hand and twirls me into his arms. "Come on, let's dance," he says to me. I take a few steps with him, while resting my head on his shoulder. "Now to explain,"

"Yeah," I say. "You owe me answers."

"Aden and I have been talking about the strategy Tallulah suggested. Liz and Avery also know about the 'lovers plan.'" he whispers. He pauses and says "Isn't that how Katniss and Peeta won their games; over pretending to be lovers?"

"Yes," I whisper back. "They got more sponsors over that. However, he wasn't faking his love for her."

"Aden said this could be an advantage for us. That way _you_ could live too." he says softly.

"You know about Kain's plans?" I ask.

"Yes, I do." he says. "I also got Marco to tell me he's a secret agent sent to arrest Kain. But I'm really not sure if he lied or not. Marco said he could maybe rescue Penelope for you."

I gaze at him, "What else do you know?" I say. "Do you and Aden know anything else I should?"

Jack regards me and falters, "No."

I have a feeling he isn't telling me everything. "Are you sure?" I ask quietly.

"What about you tell me a story?" he says flat-out, to change the subject.

"Isn't that a little personal?" I ask. He's trying to throw me off topic. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Aden and your sisters told me you drowned once." he says. Then he turns around and mutters. I didn't hear all of it, but I heard: _Stupid! Why did I say that?! _

I raise an eyebrow. "I did. When I was seven years old." I say. "Aden's family and my family went to the beach one time in the summer. I was walking along the rocky part of the shore line. Aden, Penelope, and my sisters were in the water splashing at each other or collecting sea shells. I didn't know how to swim and I still don't. Our parents sat under a great tree, a little farther on a hill. I followed a tiny school of fish. I kept going until the fish scattered, which led me to the edge of the rocks; also right over a deep sea below. I turned back so everyone wouldn't worry, but it was slippery because of the seaweed. I took one step and fell right into the water."

"You are really clumsy; did you notice that?" Jack says.

"I'm not finished yet." I say. "As I was saying, I tumbled in. They all saw me fall in and were running to help. I sank too quickly. My lungs felt like they were being filled with water. I closed my eyes after. When I opened them, I saw someone. It was too blurry to see who though. That person took off without letting me thank them. Then Aden showed up and called the others over. My parents never let me go anywhere again without them; so I was kind of always home except when I went to school. I wish I knew who saved me; I owe whoever that was my life, no matter who they are."

"Even-?" Jack falters. I raise my eyebrows again. "...what about Kain?"

"He started to hit on my sister, of course not!" I say. "But if he didn't try to make a move on Avery, then yes."

* * *

We head off to a dessert table.

There is pies, cake, ice cream, chocolate, pudding, and everything else sweet you could think of.

I take a slice of apple pie that has purple petals on the top. It reminds me of a certain flower. Juliet walks up to the table with Marco. I pick off two petals of the several.

"Those are Forget-me-nots which I, myself, fixed. I used special herbs and mixed their genetics. If you want to recall something forgotten, don't throw those away," Marco says with a grin. "I bet you forgot something you want to remember, right?" Jack elbows him in the ribs. "Fine, I want cookies!" he says loudly. "Juliet, can I eat some?"

"Of course you can." she says.

So he swipes a whole plate and hurries off.

"Wait, I meant only a couple!" she shouts, chasing him.

I believe what Marco says is sincere. I do wonder who saved me and there's a chance I'll find out.

Taking a bite of the pie and flower I felt instantly drowsy. _He was bluffing wasn't he?_ Why would Marco do that? Maybe for not blowing me up?

I tug on Jack's arm and yawn. "I'm tired. Could you take me to my cabin?"

"What did Marco do to you?" he says, obviously mystified. "Okay, let's go."

I stumble a lot when we are about to leave.

"You can't walk like this." he says. He picks me up gently. "You're lighter than I expected."

_Is that a compliment or an insult?_ Well…I'll go with insult since I can't think straight.

"You shouldn't say that," I whisper. "I would smack you, but I can't move."

I'm sure he's smiling at how I can still talk.

"Hit me later then." he says.

We reach our destination and he tucks me in.

"You should go," I say. "Go back to the picnic."

"Not when Marco has drugged you." he says, sitting on the side of my bed. "I'm staying right here."

"No, what I say is final..." I say. "You are…"

I doze off before finishing, but I hear him say one more word.

"Staying." he whispers.


	9. Chapter 9

Instead of a dream, I live through a memory. I guess Marco was being honest.

The setting is my story I told Jack about. I stand in the water observing my little self climb the rocks.

"Don't get any father!" I yell to her/little me.

She doesn't answer; she can't hear me, I think.

So I watch myself follow the school of fish in the water. I take a closer look at her. Not to honk my own horn, but I found myself quite adorable.

Then I even try to grab her arm. My hands just go right through her. She turns around and falls into the water.

"Cienna!" I scream. It doesn't sound natural to call myself, but it felt needed.

While she/I sinks, I look around.

Aden and our parents are running toward me, the me that's drowning.

The scene blacks out.

The background is back, but this time I'm standing a short distance away from two kids.

One of them is little Cienna, lying down in the sand.

The other is right over her, checking to see if she's still breathing.

When she chokes up water, he turns and takes off. I see his face briefly as he runs through me.

I recognize him; although he's older now. He's a younger version of Jack! The ashy blonde hair, green eyes, everything.

Now most of what he talked about before makes more sense to me.

Suddenly, my memory fades away into darkness.

* * *

I wake up. Marco is sitting where I last saw Jack. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't startled.

"You finally woke up," he says solemnly. "_He_ almost hit me, but Juliet and Aden had to calm him, then drag him down before leaving me behind with you. I know you very well, Cienna. I grew up with your parents." he says, spreading out his hands. He reveals a ribbon tied box the size of a book. "I was there the day you drowned. This is for you…a present."

I am frightened to open it, so I pull the ribbon carefully. Once the ribbon falls off, the box, unfolds. I see a hand-size air tank with a horn on the top.

"What is this for?" I ask, holding the tank.

"You'll know." he says, then is back to his normal, crazy self. "Let's go! I want to eat more cookies!"

We get to the dining hall. My sisters greet us and keeps a range of distance from Marco.

"It's okay," I tell them. "He is close with mom and dad."

They seem more assured now.

After breakfast, we hear a voice through the speakers.

"We have arrived at land. Every passenger must descend to the harbour as soon as possible." says the captain.

I join Liz and Avery to our cabin to prepare.

* * *

I get changed into a white tank top with a short black vest, jeans, sneakers, a first-aid pouch, and Avery braids my hair. I dislike wearing it like that; it makes me grumpy, despite me knowing why.

Avery wears a blue tank top & skirt, sandals, and ties her hair up high.

While Liz changes into a pink and white dress, a see through scarf, glass heels, and wears a bunny hair clip.

I walk out of the boat with my sisters.

* * *

Kain is everyone's guide on the tour.

He explains this was constructed years and years ago, but now the continents want to fight for this terrain.

I could see why though, which is disappointing. The grass is lush green, the trees are all different colours, mountains follow behind the forests, and the fragrance is tropical. It's perfect.

We are directed to a red brick mansion. My room has a couch, a bed, two closets, a bathroom, and a window. This is a house that could fit tons of people; with plenty of rooms, a huge kitchen, a ball room, everything you could need in your life. The impression it gives me is that it's a hotel or a castle.

Hours of unpacking and touring come by, so I head to lunch for a bit of unfinished business.

* * *

The dining room has around twenty crystal chandeliers and maybe a hundred tables.

People rush in and walk out. The place was so full, I can't see most of the floor.

I catch a glimpse of Aden, Jack, and Kimmy; so I walk to them.

I know just what to do. "Jack? Aden?" I ask. "I need you two to lean in. There's something I want you to hear."

They don't question me and do as they were told.

"What about me?" Kimmy asks.

"No, you're good," I say. "Stay there."

I lean down and use my gift from Marco. The air inside it makes it roar through the room. It makes the people silent. It worked.

Then I store it in a pocket from my pouch.

"_Ow…_What was that for?" Jack shouts.

"Don't play innocent with me!" I yell.

"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR A WORD YOU TWO ARE SAYING!" Aden shouts. "MY EARS ARE STILL RINGING!"

"Cienna," Kimmy asks. "What's going on?"

"_They_ didn't tell me Jack saved my life years ago!" I yell, then turn to the guys. "Why didn't you tell me! I wanted to know and you told me nothing!"

"I REALLY CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Aden shouts. "I THINK I'VE GONE DEAF! AM I TOO LOUD?!"

"Yes," Kimmy says.

She realizes he still can't hear and nods slowly up and down.

I can't help but feel guilty. Revenge really wasn't the best idea to take from Marco.

So I help Kimmy take Aden and Jack to the infirmary.

* * *

I wait with Kimmy until evening; we don't even speak.

When they come out, I apologize. Gladly, their hearing is back.

"No wonder you're in such a bad mood," Aden says, undoing my hair. "Someone braided your hair."

I explain to them about my memory and yell at Jack more. "You still could've told me!" I shout.

His face shows regret, "I'm sorry," Jack says. "I just didn't want you to owe me. Nothing would kill me more than someone in debt to me or anyone I care about, hurt." He makes a fist, when he looks at my watering eyes. "And I just hurt you…"

I run up to him and cry for a few minutes. I stop because I'm sure Aden will worry too.

My sisters and Uriash walk up to us. Avery hugs me tightly.

"Love hurts," Avery says, pulling me away and smiles. "Luckily, I won't fall for it!"

"Were you watching?" Kimmy asks.

"Yep!" Liz answers. "We are going to keep an eye on Cienna; so Jack doesn't try anything."

Avery pinches his shirt.

She acts along the 'lovers plan' and uses her threatening voice, "Cienna isn't the only one who could hunt, Jack. Treat her well or my knives and I will be cutting up our new target. Okay?" She really spooked us. Noticing that, she lets go and also adds, "Okay. This means _all_ of you, except for Cienna."

"Even me?" Liz asks. "Your own other sister?"

"Maybe…" She says mysteriously.

* * *

I stand beside Jack and Elliot (From Asia). Elliot is much taller than me, has blue eyes, brown hair, tanned skin, and is eighteen. He happens to be a friend of Avery's.

Kain starts to make a speech about the games.

It starts tomorrow. No training or trying to impress Gamemakers. I should be happy about that, yet I'm not. I am now moments closer to an arena for death.

I gulp back air.

While Kain talks about the war he looks at me as if saying: _You are going to die; I will enjoy it._

"Look," says Elliot, pointing behind Kain. "The flag."

"What about it?" I ask, trying to see.

"It's the wolf," he says.

The room starts to get cold.

Elliot continues, "It's his family symbol. Did you know his last name, Lowell, means 'wolf'?" I shake my head. "Well…it is. His first name means 'maker', which suits him; since he is the 'maker' of this tournament. Isn't that strange?"

I nod my head in agreement. That _is_ weird. I wonder if his mother already knew what he was going to do. I am sure I'm wrong, but I still thought she might've said: _"Oh darling, I will name you Kain; so in the future you'll create these games and kill many people for your own amusement."_

I shake that thought out of my head and whisper to Elliot, "Good luck in the games."

"Domo Arigato," he says, then looks back at me. "Oh, I mean, thank you."

"Do itashi mashite," I tell him, with a grin (Avery took Japanese once). "You're welcome."

He ruffles my hair as if he were part of my family and says, "Good luck to you too, squirt."

"Thanks." I say.

* * *

At last, Kain has finished his incredibly long speech.

When I am about to leave, Pierre takes my arm.

"I need you to see something," he says. "It won't take long."

"If she's going, I'm going too." Jack tells him.

Pierre's eyes flare with disgust and says, "Fine. You can come; if you can keep up."

Pierre drags me along and we run outside. Jack stays by me.

* * *

We get to the forest. Most of what I could see is stalks of thick bamboo.

The sun was setting itself to a lovely orange and red. The way here took no doubt at least half an hour.

We make it to an area with a flat surface that has a circle of just dirt.

"So what did you want me to see?" I ask.

Pierre gets behind a bunch of bamboo and comes back with a bag of wooden spears in his possession.

"We are far from anyone to evoke aid," he says in a calm yet frightening tone. "My bloodline is of bounty hunters. I see something I want, I take it. I travel around the world tracking my game. This time, Kain has promised the whole land to the tribute who gets rid of his problem. That problem is _you_."

"What?" I say. "You can't be serious."

"I won't lie about my kill," he says. "I might get something extra if I destroy _lover boy_ over there."

"Don't call him that." I say.

It only bothers me, because that's _Peeta's_ nickname from T_he Hunger Games_. Not that there's anything wrong with Peeta. It just doesn't seem right for Jack to be called that.

"Your right," Pierre says, readying himself in an offensive position. "I shouldn't be giving names; I'd rather take your life instead."

Jack pulls out a dagger from its sheath, on a leather belt at his side. I haven't seen that there up till now.

He fixes himself in front of me.

Unfortunately, I'm weapon less; so there is _no way_ I can defeat someone who can _skewer_ me from a long distance.

"Cienna, I'll handle this." he says. "I won't let him get near you."

Pierre throws a spear to my head which Jack blocks.

More are thrown and amazingly, Jack breaks them all.

Pierre gives up on his spears and grabs a long knife.

I can see their blades clash. No one is winning or losing this fight.

I clutch onto one of Pierre's lone spears and aim for his left shoulder.

_Don't fail me now._

I chuck it forcefully, then watch it dig into Jack's right shoulder. _I should really stick to archery. _Jack looks very shocked at me. He now has trouble with his balance.

"Jack!" I gasp.

Pierre sees what I've done and smirks. "Well done. You just made my work that much easier." He steps on Jack's back; then I see my friend drop head first into dirt. I scream to make Pierre take his attention to me instead of Jack.

"Now, for your head." he says, flipping his knife to show how handy he is with it.

"Get away from him." I say.

"I should get rid of you first shouldn't I?" he says, vigorously. "You are the one I actually need to kill."

"You won't be able to catch me." I say, confidently.

"Oh yes I will," he says, pointing his knife inches from Jack's neck. "Unless, you want him to suffer first."

My instincts take over. I run with extreme agility and kick to knife into mud. Pierre takes my shoulders and slams me into a wall of bamboo.

"I knew you would do that," he says. "Now I've caught you."

Before he ends my life, a gun is reloaded.

We both turn to see Jack struggling to stand, directing the gun at Pierre's face. "Let her go," he says.

"If you pull the trigger, she dies." Pierre says.

"If she dies, you die." Jack says. "And you can't have your reward."

Pierre thinks about this. "Next time," he tells me. "Your life _will_ be mine."

He dashes off; surrendering me with the boy holding a gun.

I look down. Jack saved me maybe countless times; choosing to do so and all I did is almost kill him; by accident.

I rub my eyes to stop my river from starting up again. What I can do is heal him.

"It will hurt," I say in my most soothing voice. "Still, I need to get that wood out of you."

I tug on the wood for a few seconds and he winces. I try again and the spear isn't the only thing that comes out of his wound. Blood.

I clean the skin surrounding the hole.

"Why were you armed?" I ask.

"You never know when you'll need it." he answers.

"Good point." I say.

He chews on some dried herbs that end most of the pain. While that, I bandage him.

After I do all I can, we walk in a steady pace; having his arm around me to support him. It takes much longer to get back with an injured person.

We get back to the mansion at around eight o'clock. I see that the tributes haven't eaten. They look at us suspiciously, around the dining table.

"Jack, taking her on a date isn't a good enough excuse to be late for dinner." Avery says, angrily.

"It was all my fault," I say, thinking of my wording; so it's not a lie or the whole truth. "I was clumsy and he helped me."

"What about his shoulder?" asks Keres.

"I don't want to explain." I say.

Jack and I don't eat, so I take him to my room and redo his bandages.

* * *

"This is our last night before the games." I say, with a sigh. "Any idea on how to play out the start?"

"You run for water as well as supplies. I will grab the weapons." Jack says. "Since the tournament is the land we fight for which is practically where we're standing, we should run to the forest. It's our best chance."

"Could you get me an archery set?" I say, replacing the wrapping. I notice his hesitation. "My aim is much better with a bow and arrow."

"Okay," he says. "Liz, Avery, Aden, and Uriash will be with us."

"What about Kimmy?" I ask.

"Her alliance is with Pierre," he says stiffly. "She decided that after she came to the boat. Plus, we're already six. One of us would need to die later if she came."

"Jack," I say. "You need to rest now. It'll be better for you if you sleep here. I'll take the couch."

"You should sleep on your bed." he argues.

"Too bad," I say. "I'm the doctor. You're the patient. I want you to be happy and comfortable."

"To make me happy, you're sleeping on your bed." he says back.

"Fine. But you are staying too." I say. "We each get a blanket and split the bed in half. Agreed?"

"Agreed." he says.

I tuck him in, then he falls asleep instantly.

I take advantage of this. I put my lips over one of his ears. "I'm taking the couch." I whisper.

The couch is so white and cushiony that it reminds me of a cloud; then I fall asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

_Knock, knock, knock. _I wake then close my eyes again. _Boom! Boom! _I jump up like a frightened cat.

Jack falls right off the bed.

_Who could that be? _"Who is it?" I shout, still on the couch.

"Liz and Uriash." They say together.

"I wanted to knock, but Liz said to punch the door." Uriash says. "This is an emergency, Jack is missing."

"Did you check in _his_ room?" I ask.

After a long pause, I press my ear against the door. "Uriash! She can't hear or see a nod!" says Liz.

"Yes, we did." Uriash says. "Can we come in?"

"Can you?" I ask as a distraction. I mouth to Jack: _Hide_.

"He meant, may we come in?" Liz says.

I look around. There's no sign of him.

"Sure." I say, casually.

I unlock the door and welcome them in. They start to snoop around.

"Are you looking for something?" I ask.

"It's not that we don't trust you, really." Liz says, throwing the clothes from my closets to the floor. "But you and Jack seem pretty close now."

"Isn't that for the games?" I ask. "Or am I wrong?" Then I say sharply, "And we're not _that_ close!"

"No you're right, it _is_ part of the plan. I also thought you couldn't be _that_ close to him too." Uriash says, while looking under my bed. "Clean." he mutters.

Liz tries my bathroom. "The door's locked." she says, turning the knob. "Why is that?"

"I accidentally locked myself out?" I guessed. "Nothing should be in there."

I know I lied; so I bite my tongue.

Liz kicks down the door. "Ah-ha!" she says, in triumph. My heart skipped a beat. "No Jack." she says.

"So you really think I'd have him in here?" I tell her. "And you _owe_ me a new bathroom door."

"If we get back," she tells me, then picks up on what she said. "I'm sure we'll come back!" she says cheerfully. "I'll get someone to fix your door. Bye!"

"Come down soon." Uriash says. "There's a small assembly for our plan."

I nod. Then they walk off together holding hands.

"What an odd couple..." I say under my breath.

Now back to Jack. I shut the door and lock it.

"Jack?" I whisper. "Where are you?"

I look every place Liz and Uriash had looked in case they missed him.

Nothing.

_Where did he hide?_

He couldn't have gone far with that wound on his shoulder. I look the one place Liz and Uriash haven't tried. The window.

I look down and see I am far up from the ground. I turn to the right and there he is sitting on the sill.

"Hey," Jack says. "So, the coast is clear?"

"Yep. Locking the bathroom door was genius." I say. "Hurry in and be careful, don't slip."

He climbs in and I treat his wound again. "Why did you sleep over there? You said you wouldn't." he says.

"I did tell you I was going to sleep on the couch. I told you last night. You didn't argue."

"What? When did that-" he stops. "You told me this when I was asleep, didn't you?" he says.

"I'm not innocent for that." I say, honestly. "Now let's go down for breakfast."

* * *

We walk down separately; mostly to convince Liz, Uriash,_ and_ Avery there is _nothing_ between us.

The whole group is there: Liz, Avery, Uriash, Aden, Marco, and Juliet.

Minutes later, Jack appears. So, we start our meeting.

"Where have you been?" Juliet asks. "We looked everywhere for you."

"Yeah, and the happy couple tore up my room just for you." I say, trying to sound angry.

"What?" Aden says, turning to them. "Why would you do that?"

"We thought she was hiding him in her room." says Liz.

Aden stares at me for an answer.

Jack and I laugh. "I'm sixteen! Don't expect too much!" I say. "And another thing, it's me you're talking about. Let me spell this out for you: I-don't-get-crushes-or-boyfriends."

Aden looks much too relieved.

"Okay," Uriash says, somewhat surprised. "But where were you, anyway?"

"In my room," Jack lies. "Why wouldn't I be there?"

"We checked," Liz says, confused. "You weren't in there."

"Did you try my bed?" he asks. "My bathroom, the floor, or even in the closets?"

"Now why would you be in any of those places?" Avery asks.

"Because I sleep walk _very_ quickly and quietly." he says, like it's a known fact. "Didn't you guys know that?"

Jack's fibbing a lot. He does _not _sleep walk. In fact, where he slept is where I found him when I woke up. I don't think it's going to be easy to work that into the tournament.

Marco winks at me. "Since that's out of the way," he says. "Here's your wardrobe for the games." He tosses us each some clothes. "Get changed and meet with us outside."

I leave last; then take hold of Marco. "You knew?" I ask.

He nods. "I know a lie when I hear one. Nothing fools me." he says. "Now go."

I get changed into something simple.

I have a white blouse, black jeans, a black belt, a camouflage parka, and combat boots.

When I walk outside I see everyone else wearing something similar: black bottoms, white tops, a parka, and boots. The outfits are different styles though and I'm the only one with a belt.

"Cienna," Avery says, waving. "Let's go!"

* * *

Every continent has a helicopter. I tag along with the others and we are taken in the arena. Inside, we take a needle.

"It's for us to know where you are and if your alive." says Juliet.

Liz didn't want to take it because she's afraid of getting shots, so Uriash had to pin her down to prevent her from destroying the chopper.

When we get there, Kain explains one more thing.

"There will be two stages," he announces. "Half will perish in the first and the second will determine the winners. Only six can win. The cannon will fire after each day."

The scenery is just the land, except with a boarder; so no can escape. There is the forest full of trees and bamboo, a flowing clear river, the mountains, and the lush green grass.

I take my position.

_Concentrate. Get water and the supplies._

"Let the Terra Tournament begin!" Kain says, then a gun fires.

I run as swiftly as I can.

Kimmy and Elliot are both gaining on me.

I take two small silver backpacks as well as four bottles that already have fresh water in it.

Jack has the weapons and we take off together into the woods. We don't stop until Jack wants to check our supplies.

We climb up a tree along with it; for disguising us from the others.

Then we split the backpacks, along with the water and weapons.

I obtain one bow, one quiver full of old fashioned wooden arrows with metal tips, and a dagger. There is one arrow that is made of only metal, yet it's as light as the rest.

Jason has three knives. We find between the two packs: one field guide book, a first-aid kit, and two sleeping bags.

Since I have more knowledge with plants, Jason takes the book. I take the first-aid kit.

"We should get going," I say.

"Wait," he says. "I hear something."

Footsteps move toward us. I know Elliot and Kimmy are there because of their voices. Unfortunately, I also hear Pierre, Keres, as well as Alala.

"Are you sure we can't let Cienna live?" Kimmy asks. "She's very kind."

"We can't let her go," Keres says. "If her hands are steady enough to heal, she is still competition. I've also heard she is talented with camouflage and archery too. She could be anywhere aiming for our hearts. She acts so innocent. It makes me sick. I want to kill her."

I fall off the tree with my feet hooked on to a branch. I see Kimmy and Elliot staring at my direction. The others have their backs to me.

Jack pulls me up and covers my mouth.

"What's wrong?" Alala asks.

"We hear someone coming," Elliot says, still wide eyed. "Can't you?"

"No, but good thing you two are with us," Alala says. "I think we should go."

I keep quiet until I'm sure they left. I also need to thank those two later if we meet again.

Jack and I take the opposite way we think their group went.

I run ahead of Jack leading us to a mossy cave. It's dim, roomy, and even has a wall of rock I can crawl behind.

"We could take shelter here." I say. "I'm sure we'll find the rest of _our_ team soon."

"Okay," he says, walking inside. "There's plenty of space. Let's set up."

Then we hang up a moss curtain. I walk out and can't even find the entrance. Jack places a dark red rock a step from the cave.

"We can find our way in," he says. "Just look for this."

* * *

We take our weapons and Jack's backpack to hunt.

I've managed to shoot two rabbits as well as a squirrel. I take the guide out of Jack's back pack to read, while running.

What catches my eye is a page with Marco's flowers. Next to it is a picture of the exact same flowers, except they are sunset orange. I can't understand what was written underneath it.

"Cienna," Jack says, poking my arm. "You should see this."

I look up just enough to drop the book. What I see is the sunset flowers a few feet away.

In the middle of the field is Liz, Avery, Uriash, and Aden lying down. Elliot is there too. He has his hands on wrecked flowers.

He lets go of the bouquet, then falls into the meadow.

I pick up the book, then sprint to Elliot first since he could still be conscious. I shake him and he moans.

"Are you okay?" I ask. "What happened?"

"They didn't believe I wanted to join you," he says, struggling to keep his eyes open. "You heard Keres. She wants _you_ dead; so does Pierre for some reason. Alala just wants to survive. I told them I won't work in their group and I escaped. Your team thought I was trying to deceive them, but not Avery. Liz, Uriash, and Aden attacked me, but I didn't have anything to protect me. So I took up these flowers and then chucked them in their faces. Avery screamed and I had to do something. I didn't want to hurt her so I chucked them at her too. It was a mistake. Then they dropped down…I don't think they're dead...The cannon didn't fire..."

"Jack," I say. "We found them. Now we should take them to our hideout. I think I can get some type of remedy to work."

First, I take Elliot on my back, while Jack takes Liz and Avery.

I then spread out the sleeping bags; meanwhile Jack fetches Aden and Uriash.

I get to work on curing them.

* * *

Aden wakes before any one else.

"Who are you?" he asks me.

"That's your worst joke ever." I say.

He looks very baffled with everything; even at the sight of my herb mashing. After I finish, he still watches.

"Do you need something?" I ask.

"No," he says. "But you're very cute."

I blush to that. Jack walks in and says, "Back off, she's mine."

"Says who?" Aden asks.

"Says me." Jack answers.

Aden points a finger at me and drags it to Jack. "So he's your boyfriend?" Aden asks me.

I'm about to answer when I spot something on my belt. "Spider!" I scream, jumping into Jack's arms.

Aden swipes it off. We all squint at it. It's a mechanical spider with a black circle on it's head. Another camera, but for the games. I better watch what I say.

"Wait…where are we?" Aden asks.

"What?" I ask. "You should know. We're in the tournament." Now he looks as puzzled as ever. I turn to Jack. "I think he lost his memory." I say.

We wake up the rest and ask them if they remember anything. They have no idea.

"I think it maybe the effect from the flowers." Elliot says. "Do you happen to have a field guide?"

I toss it over.

"Yes," he says, pointing at the picture of the sunset flowers. "There it is!"

Elliot explains to us the flowers, if consumed, will erase some memories. The cure is apparently the petals that Marco had drugged me with.

Suddenly, a cannon fires we rush outside. It's night. The sky shows who has passed. Sixteen. Sixteen tributes dead and it's only the first day.

A green parachute floats down, into my palms. I find a small jar filled with purple petals. Jack, Elliot, and I stuff it down Liz, Avery, Uriash, and Aden's throats.

There's still some left, which is good.

They are all back to normal now, but are all drowsy. Aden turns as red as a beet probably because he remembers he called me cute.

* * *

We go inside. I crawl behind the rock wall and think. Who knew it could hurt so much to know people you don't know have died.

Jack sits beside me. "We'll get out of here." he says in a soft voice. "Stay concealed. It's safer for you...Good night."

He kisses me.

I'm too shocked to do anything. I forgot we were supposed to be a couple. I fall asleep before he leaves my side. All I could hear is my parents last words to me and what Jack just told me.

* * *

I wake up seeing everyone else gone.

The supplies is covered behind rocks. It's still night. There's a black blanket laid on me.

I hear footsteps come by. People come in. I freeze.

It's Pierre's gang and they don't seem to know I'm here.

"Lucky you found this place Kimmy," Pierre says. "And good thing we killed that traitor, Elliot."

I can't even cry. Nothing comes out of me. This is another time I am struck with fear.

"He was a waste of time," says Keres. "Leading us away from the others."

I can't even breathe right anymore. He shouldn't have protected us. He should've let me die and live himself.

At that point, someone pulls off the moss at the entrance of the cave, revealing herself. There stands Avery with a slingshot fixed to hit Keres's eye. She lets go, reloads, shoots again, and in seconds: Keres is blinded.

"That was for Elliot!" Avery shouts.

"You'll pay for that!" Keres says, running to my sister without any senses.

Avery side steps; then following, a pan smacks Keres in the face. She passes out with a bleeding nose.

"Never underrate the power of pans." Liz says, stepping beside Avery.

"I never do." says Uriash, behind them.

Aden and Jack walk up. Aden pats Avery on the back. "You know," he says to Pierre's team. "It's not cool to make a girl cry."

As if they suspected Pierre to chase them, they run. They are right; Pierre, Alala, and Kimmy go after them. Now I'm left with a bloody-faced Keres.

_...Run._ My first move is to run.

I take my getaway. I got a few meters out, when someone grabs me. Pierre has my arm. Kimmy comes up, then pressure points me to a paralyzed state.

"This is temporary," she says, then she whispers. "I'm sorry."

Pierre takes a sleeping bag from Kimmy's backpack. He closes me up inside.


	11. Chapter 11

I know I'm being dragged because I feel the bumpy ground.

I can't hear anything inside the bag.

When they release me, I break into a run. Unfortunately, I am outnumbered and trapped again. They keep me from escaping by tying me against a tree.

My surroundings is open land with a wide noisy river. It's mid-afternoon.

_How long did it take to get here?_

Kimmy walks up to me and feeds me some berries.

"Why are you keeping me alive?" I ask her. "Doesn't Pierre want to kill me? Or Keres?"

"Pierre thought she was useless since what happened to her eyes," Kimmy says. "She's dead now."

"And you're okay with that?" I say.

"No," she whispers. "I want to help you, but I can't without _him_ finding out. You won't be able to live if I try."

* * *

We talk over our lives before the games were announced. Also how much fun it was on the boat

When night swallows the day, I ask her how my group is.

"They got away," she tells me, then frowns. "I didn't want Keres to kill Elliot."

"I know," I say. "I wish I could thank him somehow."

"Maybe we can," she says, teasingly. "What about a song? Elliot really liked that song you were forced to sing."

I smile, before starting off the song I sang on stage before the games.

_"Starlight dances across the sky,_

_I can't help thinking or wondering why,_

_Can this world be safe and sound at night?"_

Kimmy cuts in with a rap Penelope wrote. Aden probably showed this song to her on the boat.

_"Will there ever be no wars to bear?_

_When can I throw my head back laughing with you here?_

_Should I dare? Should I care?_

_In the world where nothing's ever fair._

_Life's just a story with darkness,_

_We have to man-up and try to conquer it._

_Let your troubles fade away,_

_Washed up by the sound of the waves."_

I bite my lip to stop myself from smiling since I'm still not happy about being stuck on a tree. Kimmy keeps going.

_"Burning bright, the world will be engulfed in fire,_

_We won't sleep, by night fall 'cause we ain't tired._

_We need to keep close, 'cause we're supposed to be together,_

_From now and forever, no matter the weather, or the time that passed us by."_

Pierre gives us a questioning look with a frown included.

I continue until the end.

_"Starlight dances into the night,_

_Now I know the answer to why,_

_This world will be safe and sound...tonight."_

_Thanks, Elliot. _I think to myself.

* * *

Singing with Kimmy, reminds me of singing with Penelope.

I miss everyone who I'm sure I won't ever see again; all about to or have been destroyed by one person, Kain.

I think back to what Aden said to me. _'In the meantime, you should at least act brave. That will show him you aren't scared.'_

I'm not sure why, but I start to imagine the ones who I know care about me. _Who_ shows up the longest is Jack.

"Why are you so red?" Kimmy asks.

I can't lie to her, can I? "I was just thinking about Jack." I say.

"_Awwww…"_ I hear her say.

A few minutes pass.

"I think you have a chance with Aden," I say, encouragingly.

"You think so?" she asks.

"I _know_ so." I answer.

I slumber on the trunk of the tree. Kimmy stays beside me, also asleep.

* * *

In the morning, I rouse Kimmy.

Pierre takes her away. He slices the air with his a dagger and it's now directly under my chin.

"Listen up," he says. "I'm only keeping you around until lover boy shows up. When he does, I will kill you in front of him. That way, he'll die with a broken heart."

"That's going too far," says Kimmy.

"Are you in this," he says. "Or do you want to die too?"

I can't let that happen. She's another friend I can't risk getting killed. "Leave her out of this!" I shout.

"You're too soft," Pierre says to Kimmy, totally ignoring me. "Just like Elliot."

Out of no where, I see Jack running toward us. He's holding one of his knives.

Pierre smirks. "Now to kill you." he says to me. He's about to strike when Kimmy grabs his arm. "What are you doing?!"

"Saving a friend!" my friend yells back. She takes his dagger then flips Pierre to the ground. She cuts the ropes off me. "Go!"

"I'm not leaving you behind!" I argue.

A green parachute falls down in front of me, as for perfect timing.

I see it's holding the red cubes that Marco tried to use against me. I throw all of them to the floor. Then I grip on Kimmy's arm and we run.

Jack turns around and catches up to us.

"Thank you, Kimmy." I say.

"I can't let Aden's best friend die, can I?" she grins, even though her eyes looked a little lost in fear.

* * *

We stop at where the dark red rock is.

I see a note on the parachuted little box I caught earlier.

I hide it in my hands to read it myself. _Juliet and I have Penelope out of _his_ clutches. - Marco! P.S. When you win, you owe me cookies!_

I tear up the note so the cameras can't catch it.

I can't be sure if Marco's lying. He hasn't before, but he _is_ crazy; And what's with his obsession with cookies?

* * *

Jack, Kimmy, and I run into the cave, finding everyone else asleep.

Uriash wakes up at the sound of us walking toward him. His expression is unreadable.

"Jack?" I ask my fake boyfriend. "What did you do to them?"

"I _kind of_ fed them the orange petals to rescue you," he says. "I thought it would be easier since Pierre wants just us dead. I didn't want to put them in danger too."

Uriash looks at the cave, confused. "What's wrong?" he looks around. "Did everyone already die?"

Uriash turns to Liz. "Oh no!" he says, shaking her. "Liz, don't die!"

"She's not dead," I say, patting his head. "Just asleep."

He finally calms down and curls up beside her. "Okay," he says. "That's good."

* * *

I wake everyone up; then I give Aden, Uriash, Liz, and Avery some of the purple petals.

Kimmy and everyone else (Not including me or Jack) soon doze off.

"You should sleep too," I tell Jack. "I'll keep watch."

"No," he says, hesitantly. "I've had enough sleep."

"Says the guy who looked for me the whole night and most of today." I say.

"I was worried." he says back.

"You're always worried." I counter. "You have to take care of yourself too. Not only others."

"It's the right thing to do." he says.

"It's not if you're going to make others worry about you." I say. "You're not the only one who cares for others. I do too. Everyone cares for at least one person in their life."

"Does that mean you care about me?" he says. "If you don't, just forget what I said."

I sit beside him. "How can I not?" I ask.

"Is that a yes?" he asks.

I lean in and kiss him. "Does that answer your question?" I ask.

Jack and I hear the cannon fire before he could kiss me back.

We rush outside to see who has gone. Five. Altogether, that's twenty-one dead. Half the tributes gone in two days...

A helicopter is heading to our hideout. I see Juliet at the controls. Marco comes down to wake everyone up.

"Let's go!" Marco shouts. "Next stage or _I'll_ shake your hands!"


	12. Chapter 12

Everyone wakes up instantly to what Marco just said.

We are all (Including Kimmy) ushered to the helicopter.

In the next thirty minutes, Juliet makes us _all_ take a nap for the whole ride. Jack tried to be stubborn and stay awake, but Marco had other plans.

I watched as Marco covers Jack's mouth with a cloth, which makes my fake boyfriend fall asleep.

With wide eyes, I rush over to help him from dropping to the floor. Just before I could get to him, I get grabbed.

My mouth gets covered too, and before I drop next to Jack, I hear Marco whisper, "Sorry, kiddo."

* * *

When I wake up, I see I'm on the ground, like actually ground where the dirt is.

I still have my bag and weapons, but I don't know where everyone else is. I stand up and cautiously turn around.

Every direction I look there's a wall of plants. I look closer and the plants look like poison ivy.

Kain's voice is everywhere. "This is the labyrinth that will find our victors. Only the most clever tributes will win. Your goal is to get to the middle. Make it before the sun sets or the unthinkable will happen. 'When do you start?' you would ask, _Now_."

I take off looking for a way out. Two other tributes are beside me. I run in more speed to lose them.

Finally, I see the way out of reach from the tributes behind me.

"There's more to this maze." I mutter to myself.

So, I take a left. Dead end. After I go back to where I came from, I take a right. Dead end.

I get back to where I started and dash off straight. There's so many ways to go; it frustrates me.

I look around for hours. Three cannons are fired.

Then I see a boomerang thrown past my head. I look and find out it's Uriash.

"Sorry!" he shouts. "I thought you were someone else!"

"It's okay!" I shout back.

I see he's found everyone else.

"This maze is making me go mad." I say to them.

"I've seen more dead ends than I _should_ in my lifetime." he agrees.

"Could we talk _after_ we get out of here?" asks Avery.

We all try to get together, but one step stops me. I feel the ground open up. In front of me is a gap of earth with tall spikes.

My heart skips a few more beats. Luckily, I fall backwards, avoiding the spikes.

"Cienna!" Liz screams.

"I'll have to meet up with you in the middle!" I shout. "Keep your eyes open for more traps!"

I hurry through the maze.

Unfortunately, I trip over some thread. Darts fly into the air.

I stay ducked on the ground. Fortunately, none hit me.

I hear a scream over where the darts went. It was Selene (From Europe). She has blonde hair, olive coloured skin, and hazel coloured eyes. There's no sign of darts. Although, she does have a bleeding wound.

"Selene," I say. "Are you okay?"

I take out my first-aid kit and clean some blood off. She isn't going to get any better with the gash. I try bandaging her, but I knew already that I was too late.

"Wolves…" she whispers.

"I'll get rid of them for you." I whisper to her.

I place my hand over her eyes so her eyelids will close. A cannon fires.

"I'll try to stop them before anyone else gets hurt." I say.

Then leave as fast as I can to stop tears from coming.

The deeper I go, the closer I got to the howls.

Some of the paths go narrower or wider. I get my bow ready in case of an ambush.

I don't see any wolves anywhere near where I found Selene, but I'm sure I'm getting close.

When I turn to a dead end, I hear gnawing.

A pack of them line up at my exit. I whip the notch and aim for one of the animals.

Each time one goes down, another comes in. They're all dead after a lot of shooting.

I only have three normal arrows, one metal arrow, and my dagger.

The sun is setting so I keep running.

A parachute drops with a strong and quite long rope. There's a note also attached. _You only have minutes til sunset. Good luck. - Marco._

I see a helicopter coming to where I am. It lowers twenty feet above me. The loud sound irrates my ears. Despite that, I understand what Marco wanted me to do.

I tie the rope securely to my belt and the metal arrow. Then I shoot the arrow into the bottom of the chopper and hold on tightly to the rope.

It must have been one of Marco's inventions because it's tip turns into a grappling hook as it flies up and takes me into the air.

* * *

_I'm going to fall, this is crazy!_ is all I can think.

I am taken to the center of the maze. It's huge and dome shaped. An audience, and Kain surround the outside of the circle, watching eagerly at the sun set.

I see Aden, Uriash, Jack, Kimmy, Avery, and Liz are already there, standing in the centre with weapons up.

They gaze up at me; so does the audience, and Kain.

I take out my dagger, cut the rope, and didn't think the rest through.

I fall around thirty feet before I land right into Jack's arms.

He stumbles and we land on the an area full of very thick soft grass. The crowd cheers when we get up.

"I'm sorry!" I tell him.

"It's alright," he says, grinning at me. "If I'm going to break my bones for someone, I'm glad it's you."

We both laugh at his response.

* * *

"Now..." Kain says. He clears his throat and speaks. "What a surprise! We have seven tributes left. One will meet their demise. Which one will it be?"

Kimmy steps up. "I will." she says.

The audience gasps.

"No," Aden says, keeping Kimmy behind him. "I will."

They gasp again. I also heard a few coughs because of the gasping.

"I volunteer." says Avery.

Cue more gasping.

Liz walks past everyone and says, "I'm taking Avery's place."

This time they were like, "**NO!**"

Uriash stumbles forward. "Then I am going to take Liz's." he says, holding her hand.

As the audience dies of surprise _again_, Kain grits his teeth and one of his eyes twitches.

"Would one of you choose to die already?!" Kain shouts in his microphone. He frowns as he notices the audience glaring at him. "I mean, I'm sorry, but one of you will have to go..."

Jack turns to the audience. "None of you are dying." he says. "I'll go."

The audience reacts terribly at what Jack said. Most of them start crying or shouting, "**You can't leave her!**"

Then Jack looks at me and realizes he did something wrong.

My thoughts bubble in my head. _Keep safe from any harm. My parents wanted me to stay safe and sound. But I can't let him die... _I start to tug on my necklace, as if it was getting tighter.

"I will!" I shout loud and clear. "I can't hide anymore. No one else will die for me."

"Come up then," Kain says, obviously pleased at the outcome.

The crowd starts to boo the maker of this tournament. The group of people behind him, discuss something. Soon, one of them whispers to Kain. He gets agitated and yells, "There has been a slight rule change._ If_ she survives this, she can live."

It seemed like he was pained to say that, which gave me a slight fire of hope that I could win this.

I walk to the middle of the whole labyrinth, with my friends and family moving towards the audience.

Someone takes my wrist. I'm twirled in and see it's Jack.

He leans in with a kiss and then says, "I know you can do this."

The people watching gives us an "_Awwww…" _(Which was everyone, but Kain; in fact, it looked like he was going to puke)

* * *

I take my bow off my shoulder and take an arrow out of my quiver.

"I will now release her opponent." Kain says, pressing a button.

A wall moves to the side. Darkness fills the entrance behind it. Glowing purple eyes catches my sights. The wolf in my nightmare...

"Now...begin!" Kain shouts.

The creature pounces and I let an arrow fly.

It hits, but the wolf took no damage, like its fur was as strong as the coat on the Nemean lion.

It tries to bite my arms, so I side step.

It sees I'm trying to avoid it's attacks, and howls.

Sharp claws try to strike my face. Luckily, I jump up swiftly and stomp on it neck. Now its stability should be weakened.

Another arrow of mine digs into it's eye. The wolf takes a few steps and lays down. I get closer to see if it's dead.

I soon realize it was a trick. The wolf flips over, jumps up, and its weight pins me to the ground.

I can see it's teeth trying to snap at me.

"Cienna!" I hear everyone call.

"They don't want me to die," I say to the wolf. "So I can't let them down!"

I use my bare hands to drive my last arrow inside it's mouth. There's blood flowing out. Some of it drenches my shirt. It grosses me out, but I had to do it.

I can tell it's still alive, so I take out my dagger and thrust at its neck. I push the wolf off me. After that gruesome few minutes, it doesn't move. I start to feel light-headed.

The audience screams at my victory and I see them give me a standing ovation.

I glance over slowly, seeing Jack running up to me first. The rest follow.

"You're going to be okay," Jack whispers.

I close my eyes as he takes me away.


	13. Chapter 13

My eyes flutter open.

I see myself in my cabin, tucked into a blanket, with a clean pair of pajamas on.

Everyone is looking down at me. Penelope hugs me tightly and says, "We thought you were never going to wake up."

_...Wait...PENELOPE?!_

"Well," I say. "I'm up now."

"Marco, arrested Kain, you know." Aden says. "For kidnapping my little sister and fixing the games; it turns out the other two books in the _Hunger Games _series came out and everyone just read it. Everyone pretty much saw through Kain's plan after. Plus, we won the land too."

"So Marco wasn't lying." I mutter, thinking mostly about Aden's first statement.

"Why would I lie to my niece?" Marco cuts in, with his face next to mine.

Before I could scream, I let the thought process. "What?" I ask, staring at him. "You're my uncle?! When was this?"

"I'm your mother's brother," he answers, chuckling with a bow. "Although, I'm the one that _wasn't_ so normal!"

"Cienna, he's right," says Avery. "We didn't believe it at first either. We even did a blood test. Apparently, he _is_ our uncle."

Marco starts to skip in his circle again. "Penelope escaped from Kain with just dining utensils." he says. "She's a real fighter. Juliet and I just happened to take her to the _Mizu_."

"It was nothing." Penelope says, giggling.

"I took the cameras that were there." Juliet says, plainly. "Every time I watch, it never gets old."

"No," Penelope says in modesty. "I really didn't do much."

"Except for take down _all_ of Kain's men," Aden says, wrapping an arm around Penelope's shoulders. "I watched it too. You're very amusing, little sis. Sing to lull guards asleep, then take their keys, beat up more guards with chopsticks. It was hilarious."

"Did you really do that?" I ask her.

"I kind of did." she admits. "Most of what I learned was from you, Cienna."

"I didn't teach you anything," I say, very confused.

"Actually, you did." Penelope says. "Every time a boy would try to make a move on you and they wouldn't leave you alone, you would kick flip them..." she thinks through a bit more. "Then you would also apologize right after."

"There's the craziness you inherited from _me_!" Marco shouts, singing the last word he said for that sentence. He continues, "I am not usually _fond_ of people who wouldn't leave me alone."

"I guess we are related." I say. He brings his head down and makes me ruffle his hair. "I owe you cookies, we should get you some."

"Yes!" My uncle says, pumping a fist.

_He acts more like a kid than me and he's at least three times my age..._

* * *

Once everyone leaves me for privacy. I change into a bright yellow blouse, white shorts, runners, and leave my messed up hair as it is.

When I get to the dinning hall, I grab a plateful of cookies and give them to Marco.

"Thank you!" he yells, giving me a bow. "Ha-ha! Jule-iet, I got cookies and they were _offered_ to me! That means I get to keep them for _my_ cookie army."

_I guess in the future, when cookie soldiers take over, I'll _know_ who to blame..._

* * *

I catch up to Jack. "Thanks, for helping me." I say. "I'm sure I would've drowned in blood during that last battle."

"It was no problem," he says. "I wouldn't live knowing you died."

"You're still going with the 'lovers plan'?" I ask. "You know the tournament is over, right?"

"No and yes," he says, answering both my questions. "I really do care about you. Ever since I've seen you the second time, you've been all I've thought about."

"You're kidding?" I ask.

"How can I prove to you I'm not lying?" he asks.

"Just kiss her, already!" Avery shouts from behind us. "I was never really going to kill you anyways." she sees my glare. "I wasn't eavesdropping by the way..."

I see everyone else nodding in agreement. Aden doesn't even react. He's holding hands with Kimmy and they look at each other like they were the only ones in the room. I'm glad he got a happy ending.

Before I know it, Jack kisses me.

"How did you feel about that?" he asks.

"I felt nothing." I say. He looks so disappointed that I start to laugh. "I'm kidding! I _did_ tell you I was going to get you back for pretending to kiss me before, didn't I?"

He grins. "You still remember that?" he asks, scratching the back of his head.

"Of course!" I say, wrapping my arms around his neck. "I'm not going to forget something like that."

"So," he says. "Cienna, do you wanna go out someti-"

I kiss him, "Yes." I say.

Right then, I knew. I fell for the guy who'd always keep me safe from danger; no matter how many more terrible games there are to play.


End file.
